Love In An Elevator
by chainofcommand
Summary: Will not be finished.
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, so here is Jared and Kim – the Angst Years. Sorry, couldn't help myself!_

_This one is dedicated to the two people that are the reasons why this fan fiction is here  
numero uno: _my _numero uno amigo and partner in literary crime, mellowenglishgal  
numero duo: QuinnandSeth'sgirl15 - the first person to review chapter ten of 'Separation' and tell me to upload the chapter because they would read it.  
_

_So here's to the people who are on at four in the morning on the 31__st__ December, or on their email. WE ROCK GUYS!!!!!_

_So, yeah, if you don't like it go after those two – I'm just obeying the bitch of a muse that pokes my brain allowing me no rest._

_Happy New Year!_

_Okay, quick P.S. or the author notes will be longer than the chapter – the story title won't make sense until chapter twenty four, the last one I wrote before uploading this. It's just a brief reference but it will make the title make sense – I'm sorry! It's ten to five in the morning and I haven't slept at all!_

_It's not like any of my titles make sense anyway – but even for me this is particularly weird. I'm only doing it because now I've fallen in love with the title. It's a great song. Fucking love Aerosmith._

Chapter One

Kim walked into the school. Same lockers, same fluorescent lights, same shiny-floor hallway. Different place. Different town – this was called La Pull or La Push, she had not really been listening when her mom had been extolling the virtues of this latest place. Did not really matter anyway; it was not home. These places never were.

It was her senior year, and her mom had said that they would stay in this place for the entire school year. Risky but Kim really needed some security this year to keep her perfect grade point average.

A guy bumped into her shoulder from behind. "Oh, sorry," he said, barely looking at her before he was striding off down the corridor – confident, popular, aware of where he had to be that day and when.

_She _was invisible, non-existent and it would not matter if she was where she was supposed to be when she was supposed to be there because no one would see her anyway.

For Kim Lincoln, right now, life was good.

"Jared!" some piece of skirt waved at him as he walked up the corridor. He knocked into someone just inside the door and apologised automatically, already thinking about aforementioned cheerleader calling him.

He walked down the corridor of La Push High School. Jared Lane, seventeen, _almost eighteen,_ young popular track star of the school, walked down the corridor to the bright, vapid young girl that had called him.

For Jared Lane, right now, life was good.

_Hee hee. Ridiculously short and sweet but don't worry, they get longer._

_I will hopefully be updating this one pretty regularly. Let's see, if I update one a week until I have no more chapters it will be...mid June before I have to write another one. Christ. I really should put this stories up as soon as the first chapter is done. That would be an incentive, wouldn't it?_

_Maybe that should be my New Year's Resolution. I never make them because I never keep them. Maybe I should make a resolution to keep my resolutions..._

_REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so we can bask in everyone's awesome-ness. And because I like it. And because you won't get the next chapter until I have ten reviews (subsequent chapters require only five, to be amended at my discretion. I never should have given up law after A Level.)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hee hee, looked at the word count for the first chapter – out of 614 words, only 249 words were actual chapter, not author note. That includes the title. Ha, I LOL myself. _

_Moving on. Here is a more decent chapter length – 1428 NOT including title!_

_Review. Please._

Chapter Two

Kim found her way to the office to collect her schedule.

"Here we go, first is Math with Mr Thompson, room 308," said the plump, mid-aged secretary behind the counter.

"Thank you for your help," Kim said in the polite, soft voice that she had perfected over the years. Polite was appreciated at the time, before being completely forgotten.

Room 308 was easy enough to find. Eighth room (the one at the end) on the third floor – the layout was uninspired and unoriginal and Kim was grateful for that. One school she had been to had had multiple buildings, no signs and no numbered doors; those few weeks had been hell on earth – _everyone_ noticed the new kid that was late to every lesson. So they had left – that time it had been Kim to say when – barely a month after they had turned up.

Walking in she was directed to sit down next to the bumper – the guy who had knocked into her before. He did not look up at her but she checked him out in her peripherals - she was good at that - whipcord muscle covered a six foot frame – clearly an athlete, probably popular. Kim stopped looking.

"Hey, Jim-bug!" Kim opened her arms up for the little boy, who ran into them, squealing as she picked him up and tossed him in the air. As usual, Jimmy had run down the garden path as soon as Kim had the gate open and thrown himself at her.

Their mom, Leanne, was waiting at the front door, a sleepy smile on her face – she was clearly beat. Leanne worked three jobs just to keep them afloat. Kim would have quit school and gotten a job too but the ones she was qualified for were not worth the pay and her mom was determined that Kim would not miss out on her education. During the day, Leanne took Jimmy to work with her as the secretary in the police station – Charlie had no problem with it and Deputy Mark had a soft spot for kids so Jimmy was always welcome. Then she slept in the evenings after Jimmy had been put to bed before getting up to work at a bartender in a bar in Port Angeles. Then she would come home, get a couple more hours sleep before getting up with her kids and doing it all over again. On the weekends, Leanne cleaned houses while Kim looked after Jimmy. As a result, they did not get to spend much family time together. Which is how Sunday nights became sacrosanct; the phone came off the hook, the door was not answered and for a few hours a week, the Lincoln family would forget everything and get to be a family like everyone else. They spent the time together getting a takeout and curling up on the sofa to watch old films – the bright, song and dance kind where every man was a gentleman, every woman was a pretty lady in a long dress and there was always a happily ever after - or doing something that did not cost anything. Since moving to La Push, it had been walking on the beach. Jimmy loved the different coloured stones, the sound of the waves as they swept up the shore. Kim and Leanne would take a hand each and swing Jimmy back and forth. Kim lived for Sundays – no work, no school, no fear. Just family.

It was once such Sunday, when Jimmy was picking up every pebble in every shade of blue, that Kim asked her mother when they were heading out after graduation.

"I've been thinking about it, actually. You like La Push?" Leanne smiled at her daughter, the kind of smile that told Kim there was something her mother was not telling her.

Kim shrugged nervously. She avoided making judgements on places because she did not see the point; love them or hate them, they would all be in her rear-view mirror soon enough.

"'Cause I was thinking," Leanne felt around, trying to say this in a way that would not freak Kim out. "It's been a while since ... well, since your dad found us."

"Over three years," Kim whispered, looking at Jimmy. He held up a glorious blue, excitement written across his face at his prize and Kim smiled brightly at him. As soon as Jimmy turned away, the smile left Kim's face.

"I think La Push would be a nice place to spend some real time," Leanne said, looking at Kim to a reaction.

Kim stared into the waves, her face carefully blank. "Like how much time?"

"Well, you're in your senior year, Jimmy's starting to get older, and I'm _getting old," _they both laughed at that. Kim's mother had had Kim when she was barely out of school. At thirty five, she was effortlessly beautiful, which made Kim seem even plainer by comparison. Sometimes, Kim wanted to get mad about it, but seeing what her mom did for their small family everyday made the unfairness of it all drain away – Leanne had not asked to be beautiful anymore than she had asked for an abusive, psychotic husband that did not understand that divorce meant a _serious_ 'no'_._"I think it's about time we put some roots down. Maybe stay longer than just a year," Leanne rushed out, not encouraged by the look on Kim's face – half disbelief, half terror.

"A year's a long time, mom. A _semester _is a long time for us to stay in one place. Why are we staying here? Why now?" Kim brushed her thin hair out of her eyes as the wind blew it across her face.

"For all the reasons I said."

"And ...?"

"And ... and ...I'm tired of running, Kim!" her mother cried, startling Jimmy out of his stone collecting escapades. "I'm thirty-five years old, I've got two kids and I'm tired of running! I want the white-picket fence, Kim, I do. I know it didn't work out the way I wanted it to with your dad –"

"Because he was a sadistic bastard who didn't care if it was you or me he hit," Kim bit out.

"_But _ - I still want it. What have a got to show for my life, Kim? A U-Haul – a small U-Haul – permanently attached to the back of my car, crappy jobs that don't pay enough for what I have to put up with, no real home just a string of rented apartments or houses a mouse would feel cramped in – that's it? Three and a half decades of life and _that's _what I got?" Leanne sighed.

"You've got us," Kim said quietly.

Leanne looked apologetic. "I know, baby, and I love you – you two are the only things about my life I wouldn't change, the _only _things that make it worth it. But –"

"But it's not enough anymore." It was not a question, it was a statement.

"You will always be enough for me, you are so much more than I deserve. But, it's not enough for _you_; I should be setting you a better example than 'run away whenever you get scared'. You should have a home, one you're in long enough to learn the phone number –"

"Or get a phone," Kim said. Her mother nudged her but they both still laughed.

"You should be hanging things on the wall and getting asked out and being able to say 'yes' because you know we're still going to be here at the weekend." Leanne's head drooped onto her chest. "I've messed up, kid, real bad. But I want you to know, this is never the life I wanted for you."

"Mom?" Kim was horrified at the tears in her mother's eyes. Her mom was her hero, she was brave and loving and everything her family needed and Kim would be ecstatic if she could be half the person her mom was. The tears fell when she told her mom so and wrapped her arms around her. Leanne returned the embrace and said thickly, "thanks, kid. I couldn't do it without you."

"Well, neither of us would even be here without you, and since fathers are not part of the picture, I guess I owe you."

So, for the first time in a long time, Kim settled down and started really looking at the place and the people. She started looking at the guy who sat next to her in Math.

_Small note to someone – don't know who you are 'cause you didn't log in to give the review – I do know Kim's last name is Connweller. You will have to read on to understand._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Over the next couple of months Kim found herself, embarrassingly enough, in the middle of a crush. On the bumper, whose actual name was Jared Lane. Kim took her mom's advice and stuck things on the wall like the small drawings she did – mostly of her family and the landscape of La Push but a few profiles of Jared Lane crept in there.

Things were okay for a while, and then it got weird.

Kim made a friend called Abby. Abby did not have a great home life either, and the idea of packing up and leaving whenever she wanted sounded like heaven. Though Kim was a loner, by nature and nurture, it was nice having a friend like Abby, someone who wanted to escape too, to be out of her house for a much time as possible. So Abby came over to Kim's, helped her look after Jimmy while they did their homework. Then Abby would go home, to her mother who was balling every guy in town, and her father who spent his life getting drunk enough to pretend he did not know.

Jared quit coming to school for a couple of weeks, and when he finally graced them with his presence, he had a new crowd of friends – a guy named Paul who was in the same grade, and Sam, an older guy, man, really, who had finished school. Kim decided to stop looking at Jared – two weeks could change a person, she should know, and she had heard strange rumours about what Jared and his new friends did. If Jared's new physique was anything to go by, one of the things they did was steroids. But that was the day that when Jared looked at Kim, he did not look away.

He had been falling asleep in his chair, it being his first day back and him being bushed since it was, Jared checked his watch, _eight _in the morning and he had been running border patrol until four hours ago. Then the door opened and a floral scent entered the room. It was not so strange that he could smell it amongst the others – since becoming a werewolf his senses had increased a thousand fold, even in his human guise – but that the smell would be accompanied by a strange pulling sensation coming from his navel was. Stupidly, Jared opened his eyes and looked down at his stomach, half expecting to see a hook tugging at his belly button. But no, there was no hook – just that floral scent he had been waiting his whole life for.

Whoa, back up and freeze – that sort of poetic crap was not something Jared Lane indulged in. It sounded like something Sam would say about Emily, his imprintee. With horror, Jared realised he was feeling exactly as Sam had felt before he had turned around and seen Emily for the first time. Except, his pull was coming from the seat next to him, not behind. Thank god, because behind him was the really fat guy who still thought armpit farts were the epitome of hilarity. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what the girl next to him looked like. He could not remember anything but the fact that she had been a girl.

Great. He could be getting the Wicked Witch of the West's fugly sister! Taking a deep breath he decided to man up and take a look. Opening his eyes, he peeked to the left. A curtain of hair blocked the girl from his view. He noticed that the hair was thin, but there was a lot of it, creating an impenetrable veil. The girl flicked it over her shoulder and Jared was hit by a fresh wave of that floral scent.

Thinking himself prepared, Jared made a move. "Er, excuse me?" Jared said – if she was not going to look at him herself then he needed to make her.

He was not prepared. Not by a long shot.

"Yes?" the girl turned to look at him. The ground fell out from beneath his feet. Everything disappeared – the desk, the classroom, the people – until nothing remained but this girl. Then Jared was slammed back into his seat only to find that instead of gravity pulling him down, it was _her _pulling him along. Wherever she went, Jared would follow. Until the end.

The face staring back could at first be considered plain – the eyes too small and the cheekbones too wide for classic beauty. But the nose was nicely proportioned and the lips were a perfect double-bow; Jared found himself staring at them before the girl lowered her head to get her eyes in his sights again and asked him what he wanted.

"What?" Jared asked, his brain having turned to mush. The eyes were pretty – deep brown framed by long, thick lashes that stroked her cheeks when she blinked. He wanted to stroke her face the same way her lashes did. Until now, Jared had never understood why Romeo had wanted to be a _glove._ Of all the pieces of clothing, of all the body parts he could have graced, Romeo wanted to be a _glove_. Right there, Jared had decided Romeo was a punk. But now...he understood. Forget a glove, Jared would be the out of date, unfashionable scrunchie shoved in the back of a drawer only to be pulled out in the upmost hair tying emergency if it got him on her for one minute.

Shit, he should not have thought about being on her. Now all he could think of was sex. Sex was good. Sex with her would be incredible; it would be...making love. They could make love here... right here, now. Jared was pretty sure everyone would leave the room – his sanity, his _life _depended on it!

"You said 'excuse me' and I said 'yes' and then you started staring at me," Kim explained patiently. She decided to go easy on him – it looked like all that pot had scrambled his brains. Not that it was not his own fault but still, the intensity of his stare made her shiver and she was having to work at not leaning towards him like he was leaning towards her. Which was odd; Kim liked to keep a very healthy personal space of roughly two metres. Arm's length was not an expression when it came to Kim.

She noticed he had nothing out on his desk. "Do you need to borrow a pen?" she asked.

Jared frowned, looking at his desk. He looked back at her. It took him a little too long to answer. "Yes, please a pen. That would be good."

Kim shook her head a little but handed him a pen. When he took it his fingers closed around hers and she yanked her hand back at how hot his hand felt – it was _burning_, like the hotplate on a stove or something.

Jared looked away, feeling awful that she had pulled away from him. Feeling even worse that he had startled her – she would never have sex with him in a crowded classroom _now_. "Thanks for the pen," he mumbled unhappily.

The next moment a few sheets of paper landed on his desk. Looking up, he frowned at her questioningly.

"A pen won't do you much good with nothing to write on," she said. Her tone told Jared that this girl had a bit of sass – playful yet mocking.

"You're right, it wouldn't," Jared nodded his thanks and Kim nodded back before turning to look at the teacher who had just walked in the room.

Kim spent the rest of the lesson taking diligent notes – when you moved around as much as she did it paid to have a full record of what you _have _covered. Jared on the other hand, spent the class watching the way Kim traced her lips with her finger (did not help his sexual frustration), or ran her fingers through her hair (making him almost crazy with need to do that too), or frowned when she did not understand something (Jared found that this habit occurred least often) so it turned out he did not need the pen or the paper. But it had got her talking to him.

The bell rang and the class cleared away. Jared passed Kim the pen and the paper, who, to Jared's disappointment, did nothing but thank him and put them in her bag. She did not even look at him again. She slung the bag over her shoulder and left the room. Jared pushed out of the room and scanned for her in the crowded corridor but could not see where she had gone. It was only by relying on that weird imprint tug thing that he managed to find her – the girl sure could disappear in a crowd.

He felt an arm hit his back and spun to see Paul throw his arm over Jared's shoulder. Of course it would be Paul - who else could hit him with enough force for him to be able to feel it? "Hey, Jay, what's up?"

"Huh?" Jared took a step and stumbled. Paul grabbed his arm, concerned – it had been a long time since any of the three Protectors had tripped.

"Jared, you okay, man? You look kind of...off balance."

He felt off balance. Without Kim around it felt strange, wrong to be walking around. Did she not realise she had taken his heart with her when she had left the room? Did she not think to stay with him a little while longer? The rest of forever, maybe? "I, um, I think we need to talk to Sam," he said faintly, still craning to see Kim which was not very difficult since he and Paul were at least a head taller than everyone else.

"Why? What's wrong? You smell something? Vampire? Meth?" Paul was getting jazzed – the guy loved nothing more than a hands down, no bars held brawl.

"No, nothing like that," Jared said. He watched as Kim reached the end of the corridor and disappeared from view. He stopped straining and slumped down, dejected.

"What's wrong, Jay?" Paul asked, uncharacteristically concerned about his pack brother.

"I think I just imprinted," Jared said mournfully.

"Okaaay," Paul said slowly. "And that's a bad thing because...?" Even Sam, who had broken his ex-girlfriend heart when he imprinted on her cousin, could not contain his complete and utter joy at having found Emily.

"I don't think she likes me," Jared said, looking like a kicked puppy.

Paul rolled his eyes and dragged Jared to his car where he pulled out his phone and explained the situation to Sam. Sam agreed they should come over to Emily's for a while to talk this through. Paul hung up, tossed the phone into the glove compartment, seriously considered punching Jared for being such a whipped loser and peeled out of the parking lot, taking malicious satisfaction when the sudden motion cause Jared, who had been too busy thinking about Kim to buckle his seat belt, to smack his head on the window.


	4. Chapter 4

_Quick heads up but this is not going to be one of those fics where Kim is the girl he never saw then one day he saw her and she swoons into his arms at the sight of his amazing abs. While those stories are nice, I warn you now: JARED HAS TO EARN KIM!!!! SHE'S NOT SO GRATEFUL THAT HE TURNED UP THAT SHE GIVES IT ALL UP FOR HIM!!! I know, I know, Jacob said otherwise but this is my story SO SHUT UP JACOB!!!! (Not really I think Jacob is awesome)._

_And I apologise for the delay of the last chapter but as I said, my computer, indeed all technology I came into contact with including A LIFT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE(!) (apologies to Christians), decided to unite and hate me so, yes, updating once a week did not work out. Apologies again. That's probably more apologies than I usually give in a year. Whatever, you guys are worth it because those of you that review have been epically fucking lovely and this is for all you guys. CHAINOFLOVE!! (Like what I did there? ;P)_

_Any hoo, hopefully worst month of my short life so far is how being put behind me and we can move on and enjoy Kim-Jared-ness._

_So, if you would like to be included in Chainofcommand's CHAINOFLOVE (we have cookies) then REVIEW!!!!_

Chapter Four

Kim ducked into the nearest bathroom after rounding the corner. She had felt him stare at her all down the corridor. No, that was wrong – it had taken him a few seconds to find her, which in itself freaked her out – no one could find her, she was _invisible!_ - But then his gaze had stayed on her. She knew it, she _felt _it.

When Jared had looked her in that classroom, Kim had lost it. Something had changed; she did not know what, and she did not know why, but the day she decided to stop mooning over Jared was the day he looked at her like she was the Sun. And she had felt the same way, as though it had all been leading up to this moment. Like they were two strands on the Fate's Loom that had been intricately and irrevocably woven together – nothing could free her now and she was scared shitless.

What worried her even more was that sense of calm just being near him. She had felt it in her bones, she was _safe _with him. She had forgotten all else and she had _teased _him, given him something to remember her for. What was she thinking! She had spent the rest of the lesson refusing to look at him, though every cell in her body was begging to be drawn in by those eyes again. When he had given her the stuff back at the end of the class she had stuffed it in her bag and gotten the hell out of there before her tongue could get her into anymore trouble. Before she could look at him and feel the earth do that weird disappearing act again.

Invisible was what Kim Lincoln was good at and she was terrified that in one moment of teenage lust, she had wrecked it all.

Emily set a cup of camomile tea and a plate of cookies in front of Jared. Being too dejected to eat, Jared did not even look up from his cup when Paul began scoffing them down. Emily sat down, concerned; it was a first for Jared to pass up her cooking.

"Jared? Are you ready to talk about it?" Emily asked.

Paul rolled his eyes at the touchy feely approach, feeling a two-by-four to the skull would be a more effective starting point, but said nothing. He did not like Jared being depressed like this which made him want to shake the imprintee until she promised to love Jared back. He kept this suggestion to himself since he did not think Jared would take it well.

"What is there to talk about? We spoke, I imprinted, she ran. What else is there to say?" Jared said his voice almost toneless in his misery.

"Well, why don't we start with what you said to her," Emily suggested. "How did it happen?"

"I...I was in English. Sam had us running patrol 'til four so I was beat. I had my eyes closed but then I smelt her and there was this weird tugging in my belly. I looked up and there she was. That was it, job done, imprint imprinted on. She wasn't looking at me so I started talking to her. I didn't have any stuff with me so I asked her for a pen. She gave me one and her hand touched mine; it was...intense. Then she gave me some paper, she said the pen wouldn't do much good if I had nothing to write on. She was funny."

"Hilarious," Paul said, grabbing his fourth cookie.

"Shhh," Emily scolded gently, moving the cookies out of Paul's reach. "Jared, go on."

"That's it. She looked away and she never looked back. I gave Kim –" Jared winced at the tug (this time from his abused heart) that saying her name caused – "her stuff back. She didn't even look at me, just stuffed in her bag, said thanks and practically sprinted from the room. She couldn't get rid of me fast enough." Jared slid further down in his seat, wishing there was a hole beneath him he could just fall into.

"Did anything else happen?" Emily asked, completely confused by the girl's reaction. Speaking from experience, even the most convoluted imprint felt the same – like she was coming home. It was kind of like becoming a parent, Emily thought. The same unbreakable love. Yes the intensity was scary but in a good way; you thrilled at finding them, blissed out because you are in love, terrified it will not work out, and safe because it _will _work, it is not possible for it not to. You will love them, forever and always. There was no other option.

Until now it seemed.

"No, nothing. I thought about sex but she doesn't know that."

Paul burst out laughing. Emily glared at him and seriously considered kicking him under the table but she didn't want to catch Jared by accident. Not that it would not hurt her more than them.

"Right. Jared, I'm sorry but I don't know what to do, honey. I felt so guilty about hurting Leah but I still couldn't _not _be will Sam. I don't know why the girl ran."

"Maybe she didn't imprint back. Maybe _I _didn't imprint," Jared said. He was almost hopeful – if it was just run of the mill love at first sight and not imprint love then he might be able to get through it. A bit of moping, some ice cream and he would be good as new. Well, maybe not as good as new but still able to function.

"Do you really think that?" Emily asked gently.

Jared thought about it then shook his head miserably. He had imprinted. He knew he had. He had met the One and had not even had time to give her his heart before she tore it apart.

Paul grabbed his fifth cookie and hoped to the ancient spirits he never imprinted – it made you either a hopeless romantic (Sam) or a complete, self-pitying mess (Jared). He smiled to himself: nope, he would never imprint.

Above them, the ancient spirits grinned. _Just you wait, Paul Matthews, just you wait_, they thought.

_Two chapters in two days – that's pretty good! But you guys have reviewed. And we are behind the schedule that I meant as a hypothetical how long until I need a new chapter if I don't write one until I've updating all the ones I have. But whatev, glad you guys like it so much._


	5. Chapter 5

_New chapter! Enjoy! Review! You know, the usual._

Chapter Five

Somehow, Kim got through the rest of the day. She did not know how since Math was her first class and she had not been able to think properly since then. But she looked over the notes in her bag on the bus home and she saw her elegant script covering the pages. She thanked God for autopilot.

"Mom! MOM!" Kim yelled, walking in the house with Jimmy safely tucked on one hip – he had been waiting for her by the front door as usual. Leanne ran down stairs, the pistol ready in her hands. She had it up but pointed it to the ground when she saw nothing more terrifying than the look on her daughter's face.

"Sweetheart! What happened?" Leanne tucked the pistol into the waistband of her jeans and went down the rest of the stairs to take Jimmy out of Kim's arms. Putting him on one hip and her other arm around Kim, Leanne took them all to the kitchen. She put Jimmy in the playpen before putting on the kettle – an infusion of camomile tea was in need. And cookies. Leanne crossed to the cupboard and took out the biscuit tin, opening it and putting it in front of Kim. Kim took one absent-mindedly but did not take a bite.

"Honey? What's wrong?" Leanne was scared. Kim was her stoic little soldier, nothing bothered her. But now Kim looked on the verge of tears. "Is it school? Your dad? What I said the other day, if you want to move, Kim, we can. You know I would do anything for you, I just thought you might want to stay here."

"Well I don't," Kim said, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I want to leave. Now. Today. I can't stay here one more day."

"Why not, honey?" Leanne said, reaching for her daughter.

Kim leapt out of her seat, rounding on her mother, the tears now steadily streaking down her face. "Isn't it enough that I want to go?! I want to leave! Now! I'm not staying, not now!"

"Okay, honey, just listen to me. You need to calm down and tell me what's going on."

"I don't want to fucking calm down!" Kim yelled. "I want to leave!"

In his playpen, his eyes wide at the noise, Jimmy started to cry. Leanne and Kim both reached for him, but Leanne got there first. "Hush, baby, baby. Hush, its okay."

"Come here," Kim said, reaching for the still sobbing Jimmy. Leanne passed Kim Jimmy, knowing that he would only be quiet once his sister showed him she was okay. "I'm sorry Jimmy. I didn't mean to sound."

"Kimmy, no sad," Jimmy said, reaching out to brush her tears away.

"I'm not sad, baby, I'm okay."

"Mommy?" Jimmy asked. Mommy would make it better. Mommy hugs made everything better. "Mommy hug."

Leanne laughed and put her arms around both her kids. First, she kissed Jimmy on the head, then Kim, brushing the hair that had stuck to her wet cheeks away. Kim always hid behind her hair. Kim leant her head on her mom's shoulder and Leanne stroked the soft, raven black hair. Jimmy rested his little body on Leanne's, his pudgy hand holding onto Kim's hair. "So, what's this about, Kim-cake? What's got you running scared?"

"A guy at school," Kim said, sniffing.

"Was he mean to you?" Leanne understood that her daughter's quiet, shy public persona leant itself to bullying. She also knew that Kim could kick the ass of anyone that came within ten feet of her, but she never raised a hand to anyone. Not in her own defence.

"No, just the opposite. He was nice. He...it's hard to explain." How do you explain, Kim thought, when you just know that he is the One and that he feels the same? She could not tell her mom that she had fallen in love with a guy after one conversation, while in high school. No way would her mom let history repeat itself.

Leanne let go when the kettle started to whistle. Kim sat at the table with Jimmy on her lap, holding on to her little anchor. She watched her mother moved around the kitchen, taking out the teapot, cups, saucers and a plate for the biscuits. Leanne was English, having lived in England until she was fifteen, and was a staunched believer in tea being served the proper way. Kim felt comforted by the age old routine. No matter what the house, what the state, what disrepair the house was in, tea was always the same. Finally, tea was done and Leanne sat down. Jimmy stood on Kim's lap to reach for a cookie. Leanne pushed the jar closer so he could get on without leaning over the tea. Leanne poured Kim a cup and placed it by her elbow. Kim made sure that the tea couldn't spill on Jimmy before taking a sip. Hot and sweet, the tea warmed Kim up; it's fragrance relaxing her immediately.

"So," Leanne said. "This boy wasn't mean to him and if he was you wouldn't let him drive you out anyway. So...I'm completely stumped. Let's start with a name."

"Jared Lane," Kim said.

"Jared Lane? The boy's whose last name is tacked onto yours all over your notebook?" Leanne said, waiting for the reaction.

It came. "Only because you put it there!" Kim half shrieked indigantly, throwing cookie crumbs at her mother.

"I thought it was a beautiful name!" Leanne said laughing, putting her hands up to swipe at the crumbs.

"It's not my real one, though, is it?" Kim said.

Leanne sighed – she knew Kim was not talking about the '-Lane' bit of the name.

"Its okay, Mom, really," Kim said at the sound. "It's not every kid that gets a new name for their birthday every year."

"It's not okay," Leanne said, her voice strangled. "None of this is bloody okay."

"Mom?" Kim looked at her seriously. "Are you pregnant? 'Cause you're never usually this emotional. I won't get mad if you are – I'll just ask how many states ago you got knocked up."

Leanne gave a small laugh. "No, honey, I'm not pregnant. We're safe on that score."

"Have you? I mean, since Dad," Kim hesitated. Did she really want to have the sex talk with her mom?

"No. Three jobs, two kids, and a man I can't get rid of are all I can handle right now."

"You could get counselling to talk about it, you know," Kim said.

"What in a battered woman's shelter, no thanks, hon."

"What about a rape victim hotline." Kim put Jimmy in the playpen watching him as he happily sucked on another cookie. "It's been three years and it's the one thing you never talk about. You said we'd talk about everything."

"Talking to your daughter about how her father raped you is not something I want to do," Leanne said. "I'm meant to protect you, not load you down with my emotional baggage."

"You're not. But you forget, Mom, I was in the next room. I heard you, and I found you afterwards. I had to drive us for five hours before you would go to hospital. I think I should know what happened. I think you should talk about it."

"Oh, kid. You need to understand that it's confusing for me. I wish it had never happened, that your dad had never found us, but then..."

"Then we wouldn't have Jimmy. I know, I feel the same. I wish we could have had Jimmy some other way, but that's not how it worked."

"No, it's not."

"Why did he do it, though? That's what I've been trying to figure out. All the other times he found us he slapped us around, sure, but he never raped you before. Did he?"

"No. But then, I'd never had a boyfriend before."

Kim remembered Adam. He had been a nice guy. Liked her mom, didn't mind that she had a kid. Hell, he and Kim – Lucy Hawthorn at that point – had gotten on like a house on fire. He was big and loud and tattooed and she was little and alternated between terrified and fierce. He taught her it was okay to be two different people, one on the inside, one on the out, if that's what you needed to do to survive. He was a jazz musician and gave Kim her first guitar and taught her how to put was she was feeling down into music. Adam had given Kim the outlet for her emotions she had never had before. Three years on she still missed him like crazy. She wondered whatever happened to Adam Roberts.

"Your dad just flew into a rage. Locked you in your room, hit me so hard I fell, hitting my head on the table and getting knocked out. He was already...doing it, when I came around. He just kept saying I was his. I was his and no man was ever going to be with me again. Didn't matter that after five months I still hadn't slept with Adam." Leanne's voice was hollow and her eyes were dead.

Kim took her mother's hand. "I remember that night. I wanted so badly for Adam to come, to save us like he promised. I guess no one ever keeps their promises."

"Some do. Your dad. No matter where we go, he always finds us in the end," Leanne said bleakly.

"Not if we keep moving. Moving once a year wasn't enough so now we move more. He hasn't found us, Mom, not in three years."

"I wonder what he's doing now. I wonder if he's still alive," Leanne whispered.

"I hope not," Kim said harshly. "I hope he's dead. I hope he died slow and painful."

"Don't hope that, Kimmy," Leanne said gently. She patted the hand wrapped around her other one. "Don't let the hate in. You deserve more than that kind of twisted lifestyle. I wish I'd done better giving it to you." Tears welled up in those blue, blue eyes.

"Mom!" Kim took her mom's shoulders and shook her. "How many times do I have to tell you that you've given me, given _us _the best life you could? None of this is your fault – the moving, the beatings, the scars. None of that is because of you! It's because of him! Despite everything we're still alive. Because of you." Kim rested her forehead against her mom's and they sat still like that for a while until Kim's pocket started vibrating – it was her phone.

"Hello?" Kim said.

"Kim?" It was Abby. She sounded like she was crying. _Join the club, _Kim thought. "Kim, can I come over? Things are really bad over here. Please?"

Kim went into protect mode. "Of course you can, Abby. Can you leave or do you want me to pick you up?"

"Can you come get me? My dad's drunk and he won't let me out," Abby sniffed. In the background someone shouted and there was the shout of something hitting the wall and shattering.

"I'll be right there," Kim promised. She hung up and looked at her mother. Without needing to speak, Leanne passed Kim the gun who tucked it into her own waistband. "I'll be okay. Can I borrow the car?"

"Of course. Tell Abby to get all her stuff – she's staying with us now."

Kim kissed her mom. "Thank you, Mom."

"Maybe I should go –"

"No, you stay and look after Jimmy. They always underestimate me." Kim grabbed the keys and left.

When Kim got there, the house was a mess. The front door hung ajar and one of the front windows was broken. A radio lay in pieces on the front lawn. Putting one hand on the gun, Kim slowly pushed the door open.

The living room was completely wrecked, as was the kitchen. Everything breakable was in pieces on the floor; the TV had been pushed over. The only thing left standing, almost intact, was the sofa and kitchen table.

"Abby?" Kim called out. "Abby?"

"Kim, help me!" It was Abby's terrified voice, screaming from one of the rooms upstairs. Kim sprinted up them to an empty landing. She kicked open the door of the first room she came to and went in, sweeping the room with the gun.

"In here!" This time, Kim could tell Abby's voice came from the door at the end of the hall. Kicking it open, Kim was greeted by the sight of a crying Abby in a chair, the hand of a large man on her shoulder. He was drunk and waving a shotgun. "Back up!" he yelled, pointing his own gun at Kim, the end wavering.

"Put it down!" Kim yelled, taking her stance, her hands rock steady.

"Back up!"

"Put it down!" she yelled. "I'll shoot, I swear to God! PUT. IT. DOWN!"

Abby's father gave up, sinking onto Abby's bed sobbing. "She left me. She left with him."

"Abby, get your stuff. All of it. Then get out," Kim ordered.

"No!" Abby's father yelling, standing and swaying again. "You can't take me daughter."

"Sit down!" Kim said, bringing the pistol up to bear again. "Sit there and shut the fuck up or I'll call the police."

Meanwhile, Abby was shoving everything she owned into bags. Kim took one while Abby ran to the bathroom with the other. Kim waited until Abby was safely downstairs before starting to back slowly out of the room. "We're leaving. Don't move until you hear the car go, you understand?"

Abby's father nodded mutely, his head bowed.

"You want to get your daughter back, clean up your act. Get sober and remember, just because _your _life sucks doesn't mean you can mess up your kid's."

Abby's father looked up, his eyes bloodshot and puffy, from the alcohol or the crying Kim did not know. "I loved her mother. I really did. Why did she leave?"

"I don't know, man, I'm only seventeen. I shouldn't know. And neither should Abby."

"Take care of her."

"I will," Kim vowed. She had a horrible feeling she knew what was going to happen next.

Leaving the house, she called Charlie Swan, Chief of Police of Forks, covering La Push after the meth-dealing cops had been sent to jail. "Charlie, its Kim Lincoln. I need you to get to Abby Waltman's house. Her mom left and I think her dad's going to do something stupid. I'm taking Abby home with me."

Charlie assured her he was on her way. She thanked him and hung up, shutting the trunk she had just put Abby bag into.

She climbed into the front seat and started the car. When they were a block away, Kim looked over at her friend. Silent tears were trickling down the other girl's cheeks. "You okay?" Kim asked. Dumb question as it was, it usually worked in getting people to talk.

Abby shook her head. "I got home from school and there was this strange car in the driveway. Everyone knows my mom sleeps around but she'd never brought them home before. I got in and there was that guy from the surf shop sat on my sofa. Mom was bringing all her cases down, Dad behind her. They were fighting but they shut up when they saw me. Mom said she was leaving with Jerome, that she'd had enough. They left. Then Dad started tearing the house up. I ran upstairs and called you. That's when he came in my room with the shotgun – I thought he was going to kill me." Abby was unable to speak further, dissolving into fresh, noisy sobs.

Kim wanted to pull over and hug her friend there and then but she knew the best thing would be to get Abby home where Leanne could comfort her. Kim sped up slightly, knowing Leanne would be freaking out until they got home. She was over the speed limit when the police car came shooting around the corner but Charlie did nothing but nod to Kim and continue to the house they had just left. Abby was so upset she did not even notice.


	6. Chapter 6

_Sorry, guys, going canon here so Paul doesn't imprint on Abby. They had a moment later on and I wasn't going to turn it into anything but maybe I will since you really seemed to like the idea – let me know what you think: Paul and Abby? Yay or nay?_

Chapter Six

Kim parked the car in the driveway and waved Abby away when the still crying girl tried to take a bag. "You go on into the house. Knock on the door, Mom will let you in."

Abby did as Kim said. When Leanne opened the door and saw the distraught teenager she pulled Abby close and rocked her gently, letting Abby cry it all out. Kim brought the bags and locked the car. Dumping them inside by the front door, Kim followed Leanne to where she was seating Abby at the kitchen table.

Kim had only been gone about twenty minutes but Leanne had panicked the whole time. Now her daughter was safely home, Leanne could look after her friend.

"Okay, sweetie, you drink this." Leanne poured Abby a cup of tea from a fresh pot and stirred in plenty of sugar. Abby took a sip, wincing at the heat and gulping down air as she tried not to cry. "What happened? Take your time, honey, there's no need to rush."

Abby told Leanne what she had told Kim in the car. When she was done, she broke down again and Leanne once more wrapped her in her arms. Also needing some human contact, Kim picked up Jimmy. He was just getting to the age where he could hug and he was hugging everything. Accordingly, Jimmy wrapped his arms around Kim and she hugged him tight, walking him around the kitchen. She was shaky after the encounter, after having a shotgun pointed at her, and now the adrenaline was wearing off she felt cold. Inexplicably, Jared and his insanely hot hand came into her mind. It would be nice to be embraced by him right now, to have his warmth seep into her bones. To close her eyes and let herself lean on someone for once.

At the table, Abby was finally calming down. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. Leanne offered her a bath and Abby nodded. Taking Abby and a bag upstairs, Leanne asked Kim to bring up the other one. Putting Jimmy on one hip, Kim did so.

"I think it's best if you girls take my room and I take Kim's room," Leanne said. "It's got a double bed – do you mind Abby, we don't have another bed."

"No, I don't mind." Abby would not have minded if they said she had to sleep in the garden, just as long as they let her stay.

"Jimmy will have to stay in here, too, Mom. We can't get the crib in my room." Kim was right; the rooms here were truly dinky.

"I'm sorry; I'm putting you out too much. I should go." Abby turned to Leanne but Leanne pulled her back. "Of course you shouldn't go. You are more than welcome here if you don't mind Jimmy being in the same room. He sleeps through the night."

Abby was touched by their kindness and her lip trembled again. "Thank you so much for this."

Leanne waved it away. "Don't think about it. We're glad to have you. I'm afraid Kim gets left alone far too much while I'm at work. I'd be glad of her to have someone she can have a real conversation with."

"Come on," Kim opened the bathroom door and starting drawing a bath. "Have a bath, put on some soft clothes and we'll be downstairs when you're ready, okay?"

Abby nodded. Kim pulled her into a hug and shuffled her into the bathroom. "I'll get the rooms sorted out."

While Abby was in the bath, Leanne and Kim got busy moving their clothes around and putting fresh sheets on the bed. "Think she'll be okay?" Kim asked her mom.

"She's going to be definitely _not _okay for a while but I think you did the best thing. Her dad's going to be a mess and while her leaving didn't help _him,_ at least it gives her a chance to have a stable environment while she tries to understand."

That reminded Kim of barging in today wanting to move. No way were they going anywhere now. When she had burst in she was working off seriously messed up emotions. Now, thinking about it, she did not want to leave Abby. Abby was the first real friend Kim had ever had. She had even thought about telling Abby the truth. Whatever this thing with Jared was she would just have to deal with it. It was probably just a trip or something for him and she was just over-reacting finally talking to him after months of crushing. That was all, she rationalised. He was on drugs and she was overwhelmed. Nothing to move out of state for. It was not like what he felt was permanent – he probably would have put it all behind him by tomorrow. If he remembered at all.

They were downstairs when Abby came down, her face cleaned of her make-up, wearing sweats and a large hoodie. She sat down on the sofa with Leanne, watching Kim play with Jimmy on the floor. She looked over at Leanne, a content smile on her face as she watched her kids, and wondered why her mom could not have been like that. Just happy that she had a kid, alive and healthy.

"Feel better?" Leanne asked, looking over at Abby with the same gentle kindness that radiated from her whenever Abby had seen her.

"A little, thank you," Abby said, careful to be polite now that she was a guest.

"I have to go to work – I'm late as it," Leanne said.

"Sorry," Abby apologised, feeling bad.

Leanne put a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, honey, it wasn't your fault. Don't worry – my boss can't handle things without me. Two of the other bartenders have left which means he desperately needs me. May try and get a raise out of it, work for peanuts instead of air," Leanne said.

Kim laughed and stood up. Leanne picked up Jimmy and they walked to the door. Abby followed feeling a little out of it – this had the feeling of long standing routine.

Indeed it was. Without having to think about it, Leanne handed Jimmy to Kim, put on her coat, got Jimmy back, kissed him all over his chubby face, making him laugh and hugged Kim goodbye. Handing Jimmy over to Kim once more, she kissed Kim on the forehead, then came and did the same to Abby. "I'll be home at three," she said, waving as she headed down the path to the car.

"Bye, Mom. Say bye Jim-bug."

"Bye-bye," Jimmy chirped. Kim closed the door and turned to find Abby looking at her. "What?"

"Your mom's working until _three_? In the _morning_?"

"No, she works from eleven until two, and then has to drive from Port Angeles, usually. But like she said, the other bartenders have left so she works a double shift from eight 'til two."

"It's only half six," Abby pointed out.

"She had to fill the tank," Kim said. "Normally, we would have had dinner by now and she would put Jimmy to bed before we got a couple of hours with each other – mostly her sleeping with me doing homework, thrills. Now though, we don't get those couple of hours – she has to sleep while I look after Jimmy in the evenings so she can get a couple of hours kip before going to work again."

"Sounds hard," Abby said.

"It is, but it won't be for long," Kim said, bouncing Jimmy. "Tanner's going to have to hire some more bartenders soon – Mom's just filling in."

"I've messed up your evening with your family, sorry," said Abby.

"Would you stop saying that?" Kim said, smiling. "Abby, there's no way I would have let this evening go any other way. Besides, I'd pretty much messed up the evening before you called, coming in here yelling about moving."

"Moving? You were going to _leave_?" Abby said, looking horrified.

"I said I wanted to but I didn't mean it. I was freaking out over something that happened today. But I wouldn't have gone, not after Mom got me to talk about it. And I never would have left you, Abs, not without even a goodbye."

Abby walked into the living room. It stung how offhand Kim was about moving away. "I don't want you to leave."

"I'm not leaving, silly," Kim said, sitting on the sofa next to Abby, settling Jimmy expertly on her lap.

"You wanted to. How can it be so easy for you to go?"

Kim shrugged. "I don't know. I've been doing it all my life. Deciding to stay, deciding to leave, they're not big decisions for me. Home is wherever me, my Mom and Jimmy live. It's not a house, it's us."

"Can't this be home?" Abby said, wanting so badly to have a family home. A real one.

Kim put her arm around Abby's too thin shoulders. "Yes, it can."

As soon as she said it, something inside Kim changed. She had never left home because she had never let a place become home. She had never wanted to be in one place, to wake up knowing exactly what she would see out of her bedroom window, who she lived next to, what she would find ten blocks away. Suddenly she wanted that. For her mom, for Jimmy. She did not want Jimmy growing up like she had. He was still young, still relatively undamaged by all the moving. He could stay here and never remember a time when La Push was not where he lived.

They did not have to leave when Kim's senior year was up.

"This can be home," Kim said, her voice tinged with a slight awe. "We could make a home here, me, Mom and Jimmy. You, too, Abby, if you don't want to leave. We'd have to get a bigger house, though. And you and I would need to get jobs to help out now there are four of us. We could make it work, though." The plan was so clear in her mind; Kim could almost see the future. A nice house with that white picket fence. Mail in the mail box, pictures on the wall. A room each with a huge sumptuously made up bed, none of those cardboard motel room mattresses she and her mom had had to put up with sometimes.

"What about my dad?" Abby asked quietly. "I know I left, but I still love him. I want him to be okay, too."

"If he can get sober then we'll make it work. Maybe live next door to each other," Kim said.

"That'll be cool. He's a nice guy, you know," Abby was looking up at Kim, her eyes begging Kim to believe her. "Before...it all. My mom was always unfaithful but until a couple of years ago my dad ignored it. It was him and me and we were okay. Then something happened and he just started drinking. He faded away right in front of me, my dad into the guy you saw tonight. I miss my dad. I hate my mom." Abby's eyes welled up and she wiped the tears away furiously.

"Its okay, Abby, if you want to cry," Kim said gently.

"I have cried," Abby said stubbornly keeping herself together, as hard as Kim's kindness was making that.

"You're going to cry a lot over the next few days. You don't get it all out in one go. And that's fine. We don't mind – there's been more than our fair share of tears in this family."

"Why? Did your dad drink, too?" Abby asked, realising she knew nothing about Kim's dad.

"My father didn't drink," Kim said stiffly. "He beat me and my mum. So we left. I was five when we ran away the first time."

"Your dad _beat_ you?" Abby gasped.

Kim pulled up the side of her top to reveal a jagged scar running from the bottom of her ribcage to the curve of her hipbone. "He gave me that when he caught up with us. But we kept running."

Abby looked at the scar and wondered how many others Kim had like it. "And what about Jimmy? Does he have the same dad or a different one?"

"The same," Kim said her jaw tense.

"But why? After running from him, why would your mom sleep with your dad?"

"She didn't want to," Kim said. Abby did not get it immediately. "He raped her. I was locked in the next room. I could hear her screaming but I couldn't do anything."

Abby felt sick. "What did you do?"

"He hated watching Mom clean us both up. He went out and when he came back we were supposed to pretend it had never happened or something. But I couldn't do that. I packed up the car and got my mom in it. She could barely walk," Kim said, lost in the memories. "He'd beaten her up so bad she couldn't talk – her lips were to swollen. She was just a mass of blood and bruising. She didn't want to go to the hospital but she'd lost so much blood we didn't have a choice. I had driven us out of state before she agreed."

"How old were you?"

"Thirteen, almost fourteen."

Abby could not believe it. But somehow she could. There was a controlled rage coming from Kim that let Abby believe it. She had known that the shy Kim she saw at school was not the real Kim long before Kim had kicked down her bedroom door brandishing a Berretta. Kim was smart, tough. She could be witty and sassy when she felt chose to be. But she was not okay in her own skin, scared of letting the people around her too close in case they found out what she had been through and ran. Abby knew what that was like.

"Come on," Kim said. She stood up, letting go of the anger – thank you meditation – and walked to the kitchen. "I'll make dinner. Could you look after Jimmy?"

"Yeah, sure," Abby said, eagerly reaching for Jimmy. She loved the little Jim-bug. Like his sister and mom he was a sweetheart to the core but, unlike them, he was as yet unspoiled by the world. He still smiled at everything, still trusted anyone, still hugged and giggled and played whenever he got the chance. _The ultimate antidote to sadness_, Abby thought as he reached for her hair.

"You okay with Spaghetti Bolognese?" Kim asked.

"Sounds great," Abby said, then watched in delighted surprise as Kim made it from scratch.

"This is amazing," Abby said, tucking in a little while later.

"Thank you!" Kim smiled as she tried to get Jimmy to put the food in his mouth instead of on his face. Between the two of them, Abby and Kim managed to get themselves and Jimmy sufficiently fed, laughing and getting covered in sauce all the while.

"Okay, that's it," Kim said, plucking Jimmy from his chair. "Bath and bed, young man before those stains dry. It's been a long day for you."

They got Jimmy upstairs, Abby running a warm bath while Kim put the clothes in the hamper, and off Jimmy, in the washing machine.

Bath time was almost peaceful, them with Jimmy who was an absolute water baby. Kim flickered her fingers in the water, making ripples. Jimmy shrieked in delight and threw his plastic duck which narrowly missed Abby's nose. Kim scolded him gently, ruining the effect by laughing at the look on Abby's face as a stoner-happy looking duck whizzed by her.

It was half seven by the time Jimmy was tucked up in the cot in what had been his and Leanne's and was how his, Abby and Kim's room.

Looking around, Abby saw that the two bedrooms were pretty damn small. "Are you sure –"

"If you ask me if I mind you being here or if this is okay then I swear to God I will withhold dessert from you!" Kim joked. "Abby, its fine. You're the best friend I've ever had and I'm happy that you're here."

"Thanks, Kim. For everything. I don't just mean today but for the last few months. It's been hard, you know – no one wants to be friends with the Slut's Kid, even if their parents did let them. Except guys who hope I'm the same way." _Damn the tears,_ Abby thought – she just could not stop crying this evening.

Kim put her arms around her friend, tucking Abby's head under chin. Abby's arms came up to squeeze Kim's middle hard as the sobs racked her body but Kim did not mind – Abby needed this. She just stood there, rocking them back and forth, murmuring comforting words the same way she did with Jimmy when her little brother could not sleep because their mom was not home.

"Come on," Kim said, when the sobs had abated a little. "Let's go watch a film. I've got ice cream and pie." Abby nodded and they went downstairs. Abby chose a film – _Seven Brides for Seven Brothers _– while Kim got the vanilla ice cream and apple pie.

"This is seriously good," Abby said, tucking in as the opening credits started up. "Where did you get it?"

"Made it," Kim shrugged.

"You _made _this?" Abby asked.

"Me and Mom bake on Sundays," Kim said. "We make loads. Sell a lot of them to that bakery in La Push for easy money."

"You guys are amazing," Abby said. "How do you guys made it work? All the jobs and school and Jimmy."

"We make it work because we have to," Kim said. "Same as every family."

"Not all families make it work," Abby said sadly.

"Well, we will," Kim said, deliberately emphasising 'we' so Abby would know she was included. Abby smiled and they watched the film in peaceful silence.

The film was over and she had not done any of her work but Kim felt she had deserved the night off. They turned in about half ten, Kim changing in the room while Abby had the bathroom then vice versa. Jimmy was still sleeping soundly.

They got into the double bed, Kim setting the alarm on her phone for five and putting it under her pillow so it would not wake Abby then dropped off.

Years of listening for the smallest warnings to herald the arrival of danger, and then of listening for Jimmy meant that Kim slept very lightly. When she woke she stayed still, not letting the others know she was awake – a trick she had learned very early on, the hard way – listening for whatever had woken her. When she heard the muffled weeping she knew Abby was awake and crying once more - the day had been hell for that kid. Without speaking, Kim rolled over and put her arm around Abby, cradling her the same way Leanne had cradled Kim at night when the little girl was too scared to sleep.

Slowly, Kim fell asleep once more. She stayed awake long enough for Abby to fall asleep first then fell into blissful oblivion.

She never saw the dark-haired boy at her window. Jared peeked in the room then disappeared silently.


	7. Chapter 7

_This chapter is dedicated to Ralobat – 'cause ya rock! – WriterFreak132, and dazzleglo – because you guys ALWAYS review!_

_Let that be a lesson to the rest of you._

_Bitchy comment inplying a need to review done, let us continue with Jared's point of view of a very strange sight..._

Chapter Seven

It was the first night Jared had run patrol after imprinting. By the time he and Paul had finished talking to Emily it was nearly lunch so she invited them to stay. When Sam turned up he got the whole story but had no further insight.

Paul had dropped Jared off at home after lunch. Neither his mom nor dad had been home; they knew about the shape shifter thing and had let him stay home until he could be sure his temper was under control. Not surprising since they had found out by his mom telling him to clean his room and Jared phasing on her. That had been an awkward family meeting when his dad had come home.

He was sure they would let him off this time, once he told them about Kim and his imprinting disaster.

He had been right. The school had called and his mom had talked to the secretary saying that Jared had come home with a temperature again; she had been with him all day. Then she sat listening to him talk about Kim for hours. As far as Jared was concerned, his parents rocked.

Tonight's patrol had been different, though. They had made the usual run and there had been no vamp stink but the old stuff near the treaty line. Unable to stop thinking Sam and Paul had gone home leaving Jared running around, hoping to burn off enough energy to go home and fall into a dead sleep. Normally, a patrol on top of everything else did the trick but it was not cutting it tonight. Jared could not sleep not knowing if Kim was okay.

He did not know exactly how he knew which house was hers. He had been thinking about her and started running and then he had caught her scent from an upstairs window of the house at the end of the street nearest the woods. So, as one does, he has phased back to his human form, put his cut-offs on and vaulted over her fence. There had been a handy tree that let him climb up to the window without wrecking the guttering.

It was strange – the scent was strongest coming from the window on the left but it was freshest, as in it was _her_, in the bedroom on the right. Jared decided to go with the one on the right. Leaping silently from the tree branch to the window sill, Jared peeked in. There she was, his imprint. In bed. A double bed. With a girl. And a baby in a cot.

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unable to comprehend the picture, Jared lost his footing and fell to the ground, twisting in mid-air to land gracefully on his feet. Glancing up, he did not see Kim looking out of the window wondering who was cursing a blue streak below her – hopefully he had not woken her up after being pwned by gravity.

He ran for hours after that, trying to understand what had happened. About three in the morning he was once again joined by a concerned Sam and a very pissed off, groggy Paul. Apparently, his mom had called Sam when Paul came home but Jared did not.

Damn, he had forgotten that Paul lived opposite him and his mom would be looking out for them.

_Jared? Jared, what's – oh._ Sam saw the whirl of thoughts in Jared's mind.

_Wait! _Paul. _You imprinted on a lezzer? A __**mommy**__ lezzer? _Paul laughed himself into a tree. Jared growled and threatened to shove him into another. The air quickly became filled with the sounds of growls and snaps as the wolves met up and Jared and Paul went for each other.

_Enough you two. _Sam's voice was tinged with the Alpha tone. They subsided immediately, Paul still guffawing.

_Do you think that's why she got freaked out with me talking to her? _Jared asked Sam. _Do you think she's ... with... that girl?_

_Did you not see the arm she had around her?_ Paul said. _There was spooning!_

_It might not have been! _Jared though desperately.

His comment was met with amused disbelief on one side and pity on the other. He did not know which was worse. He knew which on he wanted to hit though.

_Go home, Jared, we'll get this figured out in the morning, _Sam ordered. _You, too, Paul. And don't give him a hard time; just keep your thoughts to yourself._

_How?_

_Try._

_You got it, Sammy boy._

_And stop calling me Sammy boy, punk._

Paul chuckled (as much as wolf-him could) and Sam-wolf affectionately cuffed his little pack brother around the ear with a paw. Paul rolled out of the way and came up grinning. Jared was too depressed at the night's revelations to join in the banter. He could feel the impatience from Paul and the empathy from Sam but if anything they made him feel worse.

_I'm going to make another sweep by Kim's house on the way home,_ Jared told Sam. The Alpha was not overly happy about it but he agreed without complaint. Paul on the other hand did complain. A lot.

_Aw, come on, Jay! She's tucked up with her lezo lover. What are you going to do, climb in between them? _The thought was accompanied by an image.

_Stop it._

_Ew, dude! I didn't mean it! You can't be getting happy with a BABY in the room! People get sent to prison for that, you pervert!_

_Paul, go home._

_I can't._

_Why not?_

_I got orders – got to stay with you to make sure you get home this time._

_Sam didn't give that order._

_No, this is from someone more powerful and far scarier when annoyed._

_Who?_

_My mom._

Jared could not help but laugh. Three miles away, running home, Sam did the same.

_Aww, _Jared thought.

_Ain't he adorable?_ Sam teased.

_Shut up, you guys, you don't live with her. _Paul shivered, remembering the time he had 'borrowed' and crashed his mom's car. The other two flinched at the fury of the comparatively tiny woman. _Yep. Still think I'm a mamma's boy?_

_Yep_, Jared thought.

_Sam?!_ Paul demanded looking for a little back up.

_Definitely a mamma's boy,_ Sam thought.

_Well, fuck you guys very much, _Paul thought, running up to Jared and shoving him into a tree. _At least I don't fall in love with lezos._

_Stop calling her that! If she IS homosexual then you can call her a lesbian, but that's it. No more derogatory stuff._

_Touchy, touchy. Pussy. _

_Sam!!_

But Sam was gone – unable to take the two of them anymore, Sam had decided to phased back and walk the remaining two miles home.

_Let's just make this quick, okay? I was having a dream about Jessica Alba that I'd like to get back to._

_You don't stand a chance._

_That's why they call it a DREAM, numb nuts._ Paul showed great restraint by not ripping Jared apart that night, but it was a close call.

When they got to Kim's house, there was a car in the driveway, parked behind a U-Haul trailer.

_Your girl going somewhere? _Paul asked.

Jared's heart slammed to a halt, then picked up double-time.

_Jeez, Jay, calm down. _Jared was not calming so Paul smacked him around the back of the head. _Come on, let's get up there so you can see this chick with the other chick and the baby and go HOME._

They snuck around the back and retraced Jared's previous steps. The scents were now even more confused. The person's whose scent was strongest in the room where Kim was sleeping was now coming from the room where Kim's scent was present. It was all making Jared's head spin a bit.

Peering into the room on the left, Jared saw a woman who looked about thirty, asleep in bed. The walls were covered in drawings. Jared saw his face amongst some of them.

Shimmying along the window ledge to the other, Jared left Paul grumbling on the tree. Peering in, he saw that both girls had rolled over. Kim was now turned away from him, her arm outstretched as though she was reaching for the crib just a little too far for her to get to. The other girl had rolled over to face the window. With his hyped up senses, Jared could see the faint tracks that only heavy-duty crying could make.

Things were getting stranger and stranger but Jared knew it was time to leave. If he got home before four he could get a solid three hours sleep in before school. And Kim. He leapt from the window ledge and Paul landed just as slightly next to him from his perch in the tree.

They scrambled over the fence and phased once more.

_So, any developments? _Paul asked. _Were they getting their rocks off for your pervy viewing pleasure?_

_No, they were not, you sick bastard. The other one had been crying. And did you check out the woman in the other room?_

_Sure did. Man she was hot!_

_I didn't mean check her out in that way. _

_Are you getting at something, Jay? Or are you just trying to make me want to kill you?_

_Well, did you see how small the rooms were? And the suitcases in the corner? I'm betting that that girl is visiting or something. The room the woman was in was definitely Kim's room. What if they switched so the girls could have the bed and the woman had a room on her own?_

_Why didn't the woman take the baby in with her?_

_I reiterate, did you see the size of that room? It wouldn't have fitted._

_Okay, so your girl's not a lez – lesbian. She's just helping out a crying friend?_

_Yeah!_

_Feel any better now?_

_Yep!_ Jared was prancing along, making Paul wish he had hit him harder.

They made it to their street without incident. The woods bordered Paul's backyard so they phased, hopped over the fence, Paul vaulting into his room on the second floor as Jared dashed across the road to let himself in the back door.

There was a note on the kitchen table.

_Your wolf doesn't have pockets, we know, but next time, tell someone what you're going to do – Paul or Sam so Emily will let us know. We were worried. Sleep tight, you've got school._

_Love Mom and Dad._

Jared smiled at the note and crumpled it into his pocket. He grabbed the milk from the fridge, emptied the carton and threw it into the recycling. Then he went upstairs and got into bed. Finally able to sleep he dreamt of Kim. And what it would be like to share that bed with her. Without the baby in the corner.

_There we go!_

_So, thank you to every who reviews! You are the reason the chapters keep on coming! So, pat yourselves on the back, guys, and wait for my next instalment. Hopefully at a more sociable hour than two o'clock in the morning on a Sunday! Easter Sunday, to be precise._

_Yay, chocolate soon!_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Jared dragged his feet at the school the next day – he looked awful, tired and pale under the russet skin, but it was nothing to how he felt. Stupid dreams about Kim. The room he had seen last night featured pretty damn heavily except it was _him _and Kim in that bed with _his _arms around _her. _The baby in the cot had been _theirs._ And her mom was not asleep in the next room. 

Imprinting was seriously beginning to mess with his head.

He got to his first class but something was off. It was English. But the seat next to him was empty. Where was Kim? Jared had been racking his brains and he was pretty sure that Kim was not the skipping type. So where was she? Had he freaked her out that much?

Someone smacked into the back of him – he was standing dazed in the doorway – and fell to the ground. The tugging sensation made Jared horribly aware of whom that someone was. Turning around he saw Kim on her ass on the floor. He saw her glare for a split second before the anger melted into polite chagrin.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't see you."

Jared crouched next to her to help her pick up some of the things that had spilled out of her bag. "It was my fault. I was just standing there."

"Oh, okay." Kim took her stuff back but was not looking at him.

"I was looking for you. You weren't in the classroom, I wondered if you were okay."

_Shit, _Kim thought. _Not good. Very, very NOT GOOD!_ "I'm fine, just running late today. Speaking of, we really should get inside."

"Yes, you really should," came a third voice. It was Mr Thompson their Math teacher.

Jared took Kim's elbow and helped her to her feet. It was a little awkward and ungainly as Kim was not used to having people help her stand. She was not used to having people help her do anything.

"Sorry, Mr Thompson," they chorused as they entered the room and took their seats. Kim got out her paper and pen and was ready before Mr Thompson could say anything further – teachers only remembered troublemakers.

"Jared, do you have your stuff today?" Mr Thompson asked. His hopes were not high – Jared Lane was your typical athlete, coasting along academically because he could run the school to State and everyone knew it. Until a few weeks ago when he stopped coming to school. Honestly, Mr Thompson had not missed him – the girls concentrated so much better when Lane was not in the room.

"Yes, sir," Jared said. Having been determined to impress Kim, since borrowing her stuff to talk to her had not done the trick, Jared had made sure he had everything he needed for the day. He had not done that before, ever; his bag probably would have felt heavy if he was not a shape shifter.

Mr Thompson raised an eyebrow, a little surprised. "Get it out then, please, Mr Lane," he said, a little exasperated.

"Yes, sir." Jared did as he was told, which was a pleasant surprise to Mr Thompson – he had been expecting some smartass remark about not getting it out in a full classroom. Mr Thompson shook his head and forgot about the two of them – he was not paid enough to obsess over the many facets of teenagers.

"Hey, Kim?" It was half an hour later. Mr Thompson had done the explaining and was now leaving them to solve the problems.

"Hmmm," she said, not looking up. She was already halfway through. Jared could not get his head around the first one.

"Do you understand any of this?" Jared whispered.

"Yes," she said, looking down at her work.

"Oh, cool. What did you get for one?"

Kim looked over at him, giving him an 'are you serious?' look. "Probably the same as you when you work it out," she said bluntly. She was way too tired for the dumb jock act – she just wanted to go home and sleep but that was not an option.

"Probably not since I don't get this," Jared said, feeling unbelievably stupid.

"Just follow the method Mr Thompson gave and you'll be fine," Kim said.

Jared held up his notes. "This?" he asked.

Kim's eyes widened a little at the mess of scrawl, crossings out and doodlings. "They're the notes you took?" Jared nodded. "Give." Kim held out her hand. Jared passed her his notes and watched as she crossed out all of them, wrote the method down from her own notes and handed them back to him.

"Thanks," Jared said.

"Uh huh," she said, not looking at him.

"Uh, Kim?" Jared asked tentatively.

She slammed down her pencil and whipped around to look at him. "What?!" she hissed.

Jared was a little taken aback by the fury in her dark brown eyes. Then he was struck by how really hot she was when she was angry – it made her eyes spark, breaking through the polite and passive image she had built up. There was serious fire behind that shield. "Have I done something to upset you? I mean, you seem pretty pissed off at me." If he had done something he could fix it!

"No, Jared, I'm not pissed off at you, I'm just pissed. Did it ever occur to you that whatever I'm feeling is in no way related to you? That you just happen to keep putting yourself out there as target? You're not the centre of my world, Jared."

_But you're the centre of mine,_ he thought sadly as she turned back to her work. Looking down at his notes he flushed to see that most of his doodling were her initials, done over and over in various fonts. Still, she did not know that K.L. stood for Kim Lincoln. It could stand for anything. Like...Kings of Leon. Without the 'o'. Sort of.

He struggled through the problems. Even with Kim's complete method he could not make his brain focus. He was too tired and unhappy. Kim was pissed off and she would not talk to him long enough for him to find out why. Finally the bell rang. From the front of the class Mr Thompson said, "Homework tonight, finish today's problems. I'll be taking them in tomorrow, no excuses and no exceptions."

Great, now instead of sleeping before his patrol he would be clawing his brains out trying to do these problems. Next to him, Kim was writing down the homework in her diary and ticking it off as done.

_Meticulous, _Jared thought. Surreptitiously, well, as surreptitiously as a 6'5" muscle-bound guy could be, Jared peered down at the diary. It looked crazily full for a teenage girl and filled with things like 'Laundry – Laundromat' and 'Jimmy – doctor's appointment'. _Shouldn't her mom be doing all this? _Jared thought. There it was, though 'pick up Mom – surgery.' _Surgery the procedure or surgery the place?_ Jared wondered. It might explain why her week was so crazy if her mom had been in surgery three days ago. But no, Kim was flicking through the next few weeks and they were all just as busy. Walking out of the door with her nose still in the diary, Kim navigated her way through the crowds with ease, never bumping into anyone. Jared followed her, peeking over her shoulder as she looked at the timetable she had drawn up – it had three different colours each with a name – Kim, Mom, Jimmy. Kim knew where everyone was meant to be and when. Now she was pencilling in a new name – Abby.

Jared's overwrought brain hurt like a mother. That's it, he had to talk to her, the need was driving him mad and he wanted to know what the hell was going on with this girl. He wanted to _be _with her, for fuck's sake.

"Hey, Kim!" He said, tapping her on the shoulder.

She spun, one hand coming up to warn him off, the other pulling back slightly, the hand clenched into a fist. The diary fell to the floor.

Jared had spent enough time in the wild to recognise the warning signs of an animal ready for conflict – it was the flint hard look in her eye that gave her away. From her stance and the way she focused on him, Jared would say that she had some training.

He put his hands up in surrender, crouching to pick up her diary, never breaking eye contact. Jared saw her retreat back behind her walls. "Thanks. I'm sorry about what I said back there, I didn't mean."

"Aw, come on, sweetheart. Don't go nice on me now, I'll be disappointed," Jared smirked. Nice had not worked – what about charming?

"Excuse me?" Kim looked baffled. Boy she was good.

"Well, I'm just saying, you were pretty interesting back there. First time I've seen you not be polite to someone."

"And polite is bad?" Kim asked, still confused as to where this was going.

"I'm just trying to figure out why you pretend you don't have a temper," Jared said.

"I don't have a temper," Kim said quickly.

"Yeah, honey, you do. You're kind of fiery when you get riled up," Jared grinned.

"I am not!" Kim said loudly. Jared smiled at the contradiction. Kim sighed – she found it difficult to be centred and calm around Jared. "Can I have my diary back please?"

Jared looked down at the page the diary was opened to – the timetable. "Do you know where everyone is all the time?"

"Only the people that matter to me," Kim said, she reached for the diary but Jared held it out of reach.

"Why?"

"None of your business now give it!" Kim jumped for the diary, too annoyed to care what this looked like to anyone else.

"If I give it back will you talk to me?" Jared asked.

"No!" Kim huffed, jumping again. Jared could not help but notice how she jiggled beneath her shirt when she did that.

"Aw, come on, why not?"

"Because you're being annoying!" Kim panted.

"Well, pleasant didn't get a reaction out of you," Jared said.

Kim stopped jumping. "Why would you want a reaction out of me?"

"So we can have a conversation."

"Why would you want a conversation?"

"To get to know you?"

"Why?"

"Because I want to?"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because we've been sat next to each in almost every class for three months and you never noticed me until yesterday," Kim said sternly.

"Sorry about that." Jared felt awful about that.

"Don't be. I liked it better that way." Now that hurt. Jared lowered his arm and Kim snatched the diary before he could do something like throw it – it would not be the first time a guy had become a jerk because she rejected him.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Kim," Jared said softly. "I'm sorry I didn't see you before but I see you now. I only want to talk."

"Listen, Jared," Kim decided to give the guy a break. Damn the puppy-eyed look. "You seem nice in a schizophrenic, unstable kind of way, but I have a lot going on. I don't have time for conversations."

"Not even on the way to our next class? Like you said, we do have most of our classes together."

Kim checked her watch. "Damn, I'm late. I hate being late." She started walking quickly down the corridor, also hating how relatively empty it was. Jared was right behind her. "English with Miss Wilkins?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kim said.

"Me, too," Jared said happily, as though it had made his day.

"What a coincidence," Kim deadpanned.

They were, once again late and the centre of attention. Paul was in this class, too, and Jared winked at him as he took his place next to Kim. Paul gave him the thumbs up. Abby was also in this class and noted the exchange. Suspicions began to form in her mind.

After the lesson Jared had a different class to Kim. He slouched off with Paul depressed once more.

"So, how'd it go?" Paul asked as they walked to the locker rooms.

"She doesn't like me and thinks I'm annoying."

"So she knows you well then," Paul said.

Jared sat down on the bench between two rows of lockers. He did not even want to glare at Paul. "What's going on, man? I thought she was meant to love me back. You know, we meet, we love, that's it. Why does she hate me?"

"Because she's got some six and a half foot freak who always ignored her suddenly acting like she then goddamn centre of the universe!" Paul said.

"She is the centre of my universe," Jared mumbled.

"That's not the point." Paul hated being the thinker of the group. "You got to tone it down, Jay. Enough with the 'you and me forever, I want to knock you up' stuff. Ask her out on a date before you plan the wedding."

"I haven't said any of that stuff to her!" Jared claimed.

"I know, but you can't go from nought to a hundred in one day, not with this girl. According to the grapevine, she's not in the Jared Lane Fan Club. She's not in any fan club. Hell, most of the people I talked to her don't know shit about her! They know she exists but that's it. People tend not to see her."

"How is that possible?" Jared asked.

"'Cause they don't have some mythical hook in their belly like you do," Paul said.

"So what do I do?" Jared asked.

"Jeez, I don't know!" Paul said, throwing up his hands. "Ask Sam. If he can get Emily, you can get Kim."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Knowing Paul was right, Jared went straight from school to Emily's that day. He knocked on the door for a good couple of minutes before Emily finally opened it. He did not understand why she looked flushed until Sam came downstairs behind still tugging on his T-shirt.

"Oh, sorry," Jared said miserably. "I'll come back later."

"Don't be silly, you're here now," Emily said. She would have shoved him into a seat if she could have moved him but she could not so Sam did it instead.

"What's wrong today?" he asked getting straight to the point.

"Same thing. Tried talking to her."

"How'd it go?" asked Emily excitedly.

Jared looked up her from his seat. "Terribly." Why else would he be sat in her kitchen?

"What did she say?" Emily asked, making tea.

"That she doesn't have time for conversation. Paul said I should talk to you about what I should do, Sam. He said if you can get Emily I can get Kim. I don't see how, though."

"Jared," Sam said gently. "Part of imprinting on someone is being everything _she _needs. Maybe she doesn't need a boyfriend right now, maybe that's too complicated."

"She did look pretty busy – I saw her timetable; it was crazy." Jared put his elbow on the table and rested his cheek on his fist, the very picture of misery.

"Well, then," Emily said sitting down. "Maybe you should try lightening the load instead of adding to it."

"I wouldn't have been a burden!" Jared said.

"I know, sweetheart, but I've talked to her mom a few times – from what she says, Kim's a protector, too. She looks after everyone, that's just her MO. Maybe one more person is one more person she has to look after."

"She wouldn't have to look after me!" Jared practically yelled. "That's my job! I'm the Protector! What's the point of not even being able to keep my skin together if _she's _doing all the looking after?!"

Sam and Emily smiled at each other at Jared's outburst.

"So, what do I do?" Jared asked, slumping back in his seat. "How do I show her I'm not a burden? That _I'm _supposed to look after _her?"_

"Firstly, don't put it like that," Emily said. "The whole family has a thing about guys coming in and taking charge. Let her know it's a partner thing. The two of you together, not you lording over her."

"I wouldn't –" Jared began.

"Shh," Sam said. He turned his attention back to Emily and Jared did the same.

"Secondly," Emily continued as though not interrupted. "Family means everything to the Lincolns. If you want Kim you're going to have to get to know all of them. And they'll have to like you."

"What if they don't like me?"

Sam and Emily looked uncomfortably at each other. "Why don't we cross that bridge when we get to it?" Sam suggested. Emily poked him. "_If, if _we get to it."

"Okay. See you tonight, Sam," Jared got up to leave.

"Do you want the night off, Jared?" Sam asked. "I'd say you need it."

"No, if I'm on patrol at least I'm doing something, or else I'll just be at home moping."

"Okay. You can do a sweep by her house, make sure everything's okay," Sam offered.

"Thanks, Sam. See you later, Emily." Jared walked out of the door and slouched home.

"You think he'll be okay?" Emily asked.

"Given what we went through, I'd say right now it feels like someone's cutting out his heart with rusty razors," Sam said. "If she doesn't give him something _soon_ I don't know if he will be."

"Poor Jared," Emily said.

"It'll be easier when they start to talk. If he can figure her out, he can figure out how to work things out with her." Sam kissed the top of Emily's head. "He'll be okay, love. I'll take care of him."

"I know." Emily rested her back against Sam's broad chest. Sam wrapped his arms around her and they sat like that for a while, both intensely grateful they had given in.

Kim wanted to give in. She wanted to cry. It was not fair and she did not know what to do.

But she did not. She kept pushing the trolley around Foodland, trying to keep Jimmy occupied and not pulling things off the shelves. "No, Jim-bug," she said yet again, putting back the washing machine powder Jimmy liked because the packaging was shiny and brightly coloured. Bloody advertisers, they just had to make her life harder, didn't they?

Abby was safely at home doing her homework, Leanne was sleeping until Kim got back and Jimmy had refused to go down for his nap so Kim had taken him with her when she went shopping.

Turning the corner her trolley smacked into someone else's. Kim apologised fervently, feeling ridiculously close to tears. "I'm so sorry," she said.

"Don't worry, it was my fault," said the woman. "I was so busy trying to find the chocolate my son likes that I wasn't even looking. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kim said.

"What about your little one?" she said. Kim braced herself for the disapproving look – given the amount of jobs Leanne had, Kim was usually looking after Jimmy meaning that everyone assumed he was her baby. But this woman was entirely non-judgemental, she just smiled at Jimmy, cooing at him when he reached for the polished silver bracelet on her wrist. "You've got good taste little one," she said, taking off the bracelet and giving it to Jimmy who put it in his mouth.

"No, Jimmy!" Kim said, plucking it out of his mouth. "Sorry, he does that. He likes the feel."

"Don't worry about it, dear. He's beautiful."

"Yeah, my mom thinks so," Kim said, trying not to make the point too sharply.

"Mothers always think that about their kids," the woman said.

"Kimmy, I want out," Jimmy said. _You and me both, kid, _Kim thought as she pulled him out of the child seat on the trolley and set him on the floor, keeping a firm hold on his hood as he tried to run off. "Kimmy!"

"No way, kid, you're staying with me," Kim said.

The woman laughed. "Jared was just the same at that age. Always running off and getting into trouble. Though he called it 'adventures'." The woman shook her head, smiling fondly.

"Jared? Are you Jared Lane's mom?" Kim asked.

"Yes, do you know him?"

"We go to school together. We have a few classes together," Kim said. _And I was kinda obsessed with him until he went off his head._

"And you are?" the woman asked, politely.

"Kim. Kim Lincoln."

Mrs Lane's face lit up, far more excitedly than the situation really warranted. "_You're _Kim?"

"Yes," Kim said hesitantly. Recognition made her want to bolt.

"Oh that's wonderful! I've been wanting to meet you. Jared hasn't stopped talking about you since he came home yesterday. Well, when he talks. He hasn't been feeling well." Mrs Lane tried not to blame the young woman in front of her for breaking her son's heart.

"He's ill again?" Kim heart hurt with worry. "Is he okay? He was fine at school today."

Mrs Lane smiled a rather satisfied smile – so she _did _care about Jared! "He's fine. Just a little overwrought. A certain spitfire gave him a lashing today at school."

Kim flushed and she looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to it's just ... I was a little overwrought myself. Still am, actually."

"What's wrong, dear?"

"Nothing. Nothing I can't handle anyway." Kim picked Jimmy off the floor. "I should be going actually. If I don't get home soon Mom won't get any decent time with Jimmy."

"Okay then, love. I'll see you again sometime," Mrs Lane said.

"Yeah, maybe. See you around Mrs Lane," Kim said, putting Jimmy back in his seat.

"Call me Tally, love, everyone does."

"Okay...Tally. I'll see you later," Kim wheeled the trolley away.

"Bye bye Tally!" Jimmy crowed from the trolley, overjoyed at his new word.

"Bye bye, Jimmy." Looking down at her wrist, Tally realised Jimmy still had her bracelet. Oh well, Jared would just have to ask Kim for it at school the next day, Tally smiled.

When she got home, Abby had finished her homework and was trying to prove herself useful by tidying up. "You don't have to do that, you know," Kim said, putting Jimmy in the playpen in the kitchen.

"Yes I do. If I'm living here I'm doing chores – you do too much," Abby said, wiping down the counters. "Now, let's get the food in."

"You're in a good mood today."

"It's nice not having to wonder which guy you'll see draped over your mother this time," Abby shrugged, grabbing several bags from the trunk of the car. Kim got the rest and locked the car.

"Actually, Kim," Abby set the shopping down. "I know how much you like Jared, but there's something I need to tell you."

"You went out with him? You and every other girl in school," Kim said, attempting a lightness she did not feel at the thought of Jared with another girl.

"No, me and Jared, different, never meeting spheres. You have no worries on that score," Abby reassured her.

"So what is it?" Kim leant against the counter, looking over at Abby.

"Well, I'm not saying that he couldn't really be in to you because of course he could –"

"Abby get on with it," Kim said, feeling her stomach tighten nervously.

"When you came into English with Jared today, I saw him wink at Paul, who gave him the thumbs up. I know, it's not a big deal, I just thought that with him being _so _suddenly interested in you..."

"That he and Paul could have a bet on," Kim finished. "Whether or not Jared could get the quiet girl into bed."

"It's not original but they are teenage boys," Abby said. She looked at Kim's downcast face. "Kim, I'm so sorry. I just didn't want you to get hurt because I didn't say anything."

"No, it's fine. I've been wondering why he's paying me so much attention, anyway. It makes sense." Kim shrugged like it did not matter, biting the inside of her mouth so she did not cry – it was just a little too much on top of everything else.

"They're bastards," Abby declared.

"Who are bastards?" Leanne asked, walking into the room in her version of pyjamas – short shorts and an oversized T-shirt. "And why are we using the word around Jimmy?"

"Oops, sorry, Leanne," Abby said, but Leanne waved it away. "I'm sure I've said worse in front of him stubbing my toe on that crib at three in the morning. So who are these bad men?"

"Jared Lane and Paul Matthews," Abby said.

"The guy you like, Kim?" Leanne asked, turning to her daughter.

"Yeah, sort of. It's actually why I came home screaming yesterday," Kim said. "I was going to talk to you about it but then everything blew up and there just wasn't time."

"Okay, well, kettle on, time for girly chat," Leanne said, doing just that. The girls sat at the table while she bustled around putting the tea tray together. "English breakfast today, I think," Leanne said.

"Right," Leanne set the tray on the table and sat down, yelping when her legs came into contact with the cold chair. Wordlessly, Kim fetched some clean sweats from the pile in the utility room that had no utilities in it. Taking them, Leanne slipped them on and sat down again. "Right, take two. What's going on?"

"Yesterday, Jared came into Math. He had been away with the flu or something for a couple of weeks. He'd never looked at me before; the closest we had ever got to conversation was him knocking into me on my first day and him apologising. Anyway, he comes in yesterday and _looks _at me. Like really looks at me. He didn't look away all lesson, it freaked me out because... I don't know. I felt weird when he looked at me, like the floor had fallen out from beneath me or something. I just suddenly felt like I should be with him, forever. At the end of the class I was so freaked I pegged it out of there. Then today he was trying to talk to me again. I kind of snapped at him because of everything that happened yesterday and then him being all weird again today I just couldn't handle it. I wanted to be invisible and he wouldn't let me so I lost my temper. Which he complemented me on, by the way. I don't know. It's like we're ...magnetised or something. We can't stop bumping into each other and then he just has to help me up!" Kim shook her head and accepted the milky tea from her mother.

"That sounds like puppy-love, hon," Leanne smiled. She was glad – Kim needed a nice boy, not those losers she had let herself get involved with a couple of years ago.

"You haven't heard it all," Kim said, nodding at Abby.

Abby explained what she had seen and what they thought it meant. By the time she was finished Leanne was livid. "A bet? What do they think this is, a Freddie Prince Jnr. movie where it will all work out in the end because the girl's so desperate to be with him?" she spat.

"There's more," Kim said. Leanne and Abby looked at her. "When I was at the supermarket I ran into his mom. Like, literally."

"What happened?"

"She was nice; I didn't know she was his mom until she said Jimmy acted like her son, Jared, used to. Then she found out who I was and said Jared had been talking about me all the time since yesterday. I'm so confused!"

"What do you think Leanne?" Abby said.

Leanne bit her lip. "Until I heard that I thought the same as you two did from their behaviour. But if he's talking about Kim to his _mom_ then that changes things."

"Great," Kim muttered. "Just bloody wonderful."

"Kim, this is good!" Abby trilled. "It means he could really like you!"

"I don't want him to like me!" Kim half-yelled. "I want things to go back to the way they were 48 hours ago! I want things to be simple again! None of this makes sense!"

"Honey, love never does," Leanne said. "You're just going to have to run with this."

"Can't I run away instead?" Kim asked.

Leanne laughed. "Do you want to?"

Kim shook her head.

"What do you want to do?" Leanne asked.

"I don't know. Talk to him I guess. I miss him, which is dumb as hell because I don't even _know _him."

"Then talk to him. Give him a chance. And if it turns out this is all a bet and he hurts you then I'll rip his balls off," Leanne said cheerfully.

"I'll help," Abby said darkly. "Paul's too, just on principle."

Kim laughed at the loyalty and held out her hands. Leanne took one, Abby the other. Then Leanne reached out and took Abby's other hand. "We're going to make it through all this craziness, girls, I promise," Leanne said.

Kim nodded then reluctantly let go of their hands. "Come on, we need to get dinner on."


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry for the long delay, guys, but, you know, first year exams and all that. Still, they're over now and hopefully I did well enough to get into my second year at university so we continue!_

Chapter Ten

When Jared came home he flopped down in front of the TV. He pulled out his Math homework but ended up spending half an hour looking at Kim's handwriting, thinking about her instead. Maybe he should call Sam and not go on patrol tonight since his concentration was shot to hell. But that would mean missing out on sweeping Kim's house. What if something got to her because he had not checked on her? Unable to face the idea, Jared refused to call Sam.

He was in the middle of a major wallow when his mom walked in with the shopping. "Jared could you get the rest out of the car, please?" she asked. Jared got up and brought in the remaining ten bags, dumping them on the floor. "Careful, Jared! I don't know which bag I put the eggs in."

"Sorry, Mom," Jared said, already halfway out the door.

"I saw your girl Kim at the supermarket," his mom said. Jared span on his heel and came back in to the room. "You did?"

"Yes," his mom said, putting the shopping away.

Jared waited. And waited. "Well?"

"Don't shout, Jay-bird," his mom said, using the nickname his parents and _only _his parents could use.

"Mom!"

"Okay, okay. I bumped into her, quite literally I'm afraid."

"Is she okay?" Jared asked concerned.

"Yes, Jared, she's fine," Tally said patiently. "I was more worried about the toddler, Jimmy, honestly, since he was in the trolley at the time, but she was a wonder with him. She's a lovely girl, Jared."

"I know," Jared said. "Well, what else?"

"We talked about you a bit – Jimmy did so remind me of you at that age!" Tally smiled maternally.

"You talked about me? What did she say? Was she okay?"

"Well, she was preoccupied before, but then she seemed upset when I mentioned you weren't feeling well again. She said she was sorry about telling you off today but she's got things on her mind."

"What things?" Jared asked quickly, wondering if this was his opening.

"I don't know, Jared, it wasn't polite to ask," Tally said.

"Mom!" Jared whined again.

"Stop saying 'Mom' like that and help me put the shopping away," Tally said. "Oh, and could you ask Kim for my bracelet tomorrow at school? Her brother was quite fascinated by it so I let him play with it but then Kim left. Poor thing obviously has a lot on her plate. It would be so nice if she could have a break from that every once in a while," Tally mused.

"Yeah, it would," Jared said. _And she will if I have anything to do with it._

"So, could you do that tomorrow?" Tally asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, bracelet, got it," Jared said.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Why don't you go do your homework while I make dinner? You'll need feeding up if you're going on patrol."

"Yeah, okay, bye Mom."

"Bye, honey."

Jared was called down to dinner at six when his dad got home. "Hey, Dad," Jared said, coming down the stairs.

"Hey, son, things better with Kim today?" George Lane asked.

"I talked to her, but she sort of yelled back," Jared said.

"Ah, well, don't worry. It's a good thing when they yell – it means they're telling you exactly what they're thinking. It's when they're quiet you've got to be scared."

"Is that so?" Tally asked, coming up behind her husband.

George whipped round. "I love you," he said.

"Uh huh," Tally was not convinced. George pulled his wife close and kissed her. Before yesterday Jared would have been kind of grossed out at such a display. Now he was jealous – how come everyone but him could kiss the woman they loved? It was not fair.

"Okay, you two, time for dinner," Tally said. George walked into the kitchen, his hand on the small of his wife's back. Jared followed behind, trying not to feel like a third wheel in his own family.

Over dinner they talked about Kim, his dad's carpentry business, Kim, his mom's childminding job and Kim. Jared got more and more depressed as he realised he could not answer any of his parents' questions about her. He did not even know where she had lived before she had arrived in La Push though he did know she had not been here long – he could remember bumping into her for the first time on the first day of the school year a couple of months ago. But then he had carried on to a cheerleader he had slept with and forgotten about in a week. Why hadn't he looked at her them? He should have. He should have seen her.

"Jared? Are you okay?" his mom asked.

Jared looked up. Both his parents were looking at him anxiously. "Yeah, why?"

"Your mom asked you if you wanted some cherry pie and you didn't answer," George said.

"Oh. No thanks, Mom, I don't want any more. Can I go?" His parents nodded mutely, now looking downright scared, and Jared left.

"Do you think he's really okay?" he heard his mom ask his dad.

"I don't know. I hope he gets together with Kim soon though – I don't know how much more of this he can handle."

"My poor baby," his mom said. "And she's such a lovely girl it's hard to be angry at her."

"They'll work it out, love. It always works out. Remember you and me? _Hated _each other the first time we met. Couldn't stand each other for two years."

"Now I couldn't live without you."

"Nor I you, love, nor I you."

Jared closed his bedroom door with a heavy heart. Sometimes super-hearing really sucked.

Patrol was interesting that night. There were no vamps but when Jared got to Kim's house she found him outside with a fussing Jimmy. Tears poured down Kim's face as she begged the little boy to settle but he would not. She walked him round and round the garden for an hour before he fell asleep. Kim took him upstairs and laid him in his cot before getting into bed and falling into an exhausted sleep.

As soon as she was in the house, Sam and Paul let go of Jared. At the sight of her tears, Jared had tried to vault over the fence to get to Kim and no amount of his brothers' reasoning that it would freak her out to have a half-naked Jared in her garden at two in the morning would stop him. In the end, they had had to sit on him, Sam clapping a hand over his mouth so Kim did not hear Jared's protests.

"Jared, for fuck's sake!" Paul hissed. "What were you thinking?"

Jared was pacing in a circle, his head in his hands, his chest heaving as he thought of Kim crying alone. "You should have let me go to her," he said. "It would have been alright."

"How?" Sam asked gently, trying to get Jared to see the truth.

"I don't know!" Jared said, flinging his hands away from his face. They saw the anguish in his eyes that was tearing him up inside. "But it would have been. Instead I sat here, useless. What sort of imprinter am I if I can't even help her with a kid? What kind of father will that make me?"

"It'll be different when it's your child she's comforting," Sam said. "For one thing, you can walk around the garden in nothing but your shorts till your heart's content and she won't call the police. But Jared, if you had turned up then, it wouldn't have been a comfort. It would have been stalking."

"I don't care," Jared said.

"Well you should," Sam said. "Jared, I know this is tough, but you need to think about what's best for her."

Jared looked at his Alpha, both resenting and desiring that serenity that Sam radiated. He wanted to feel calm, peaceful. But he could not. All he could think about was Kim crying herself to sleep and him not being there to stop it.

"Come on, we have to go, her mom will be home soon," Sam said.

They phased and were soon home. Jared fell into bed, looking at the clock – three in the morning. Four hours sleep and then he could wake up and get ready for school. Get ready for seeing Kim.

He was bitterly disappointed. Kim was not at school that day. Abby was, having been dropped off by Leanne, who did not have Jimmy in the back of the car today, but Kim was nowhere to be seen. Disorientated and worried, Jared cornered Abby outside of their English class. "Where's Kim?" he demanded, too frantic to beat around the bush.

"At home," Abby said, scared of the huge, muscular youth glaring furiously down at her. It did not help that Jared had about a foot and half on her 5'2" frame.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's a little under the weather," Abby hedged. "Jared, I have to go." She tried skirting around him but Jared slammed his palm into the wall by her head. She yelped and jumped back; his palm had left an imprint in the wall.

"What does 'under the weather' mean?" Jared said harshly.

"She doesn't feel up to school today," Abby said. "She exhausted and Jimmy's got a cold. She's stayed at home to look after him. Please, Jared," Abby trembled, "let me go."

Jared looked down at the tiny girl in front of him – she barely made it to his ribcage – and she was scared as hell of him. He took his hand away from the wall slowly, running his hand through the stubble that covered his cranium. "Sorry, Abby. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just not like Kim not to be here, you know? I guess it's just got me off-kilter."

Abby looked at him, less scared now he was not backing her into a wall, yet still wary. "You really like her, don't you?"

"Yes," Jared said, letting Abby see it in his eyes.

"Then why didn't you even look at her before?" Abby asked, her tone getting sharp as she stuck up for the friend that had done so much for her.

"I didn't have my eyes open before," Jared said. He sighed. "Sorry, Abby. I didn't want to scare you. Let me walk you to your next class – prove I'm not a thug."

Abby smiled tentatively. "Okay. Just, don't put your hand through anymore walls and we're good."

"Yeah, about that. Could you not mention that to anyone?" Jared asked.

"Okay," Abby said slowly. "So... are you doing steroids? That's what everyone thinks, and it would explain the rage."

Jared laughed harshly. "I wish it was steroids – then it would be something I could quit. No, Abby, I've just...had to come to terms with who I am, that's all."

"And a huge bouncer for La Push is who you are?" Abby asked. She had heard about the meth dealers – everyone had.

"Pretty much. Abby," Jared said, stopping suddenly. "Would it be alright if I gave you a lift home from school today? I need to talk to Kim and since you live with her I might as well."

"Okay, sure," Abby agreed easily enough. "How come you know I'm living with Kim now?"

"Oh," Jared dodged. "You know, La Push grapevine, it's a small town after all."

"Yeah, it is," Abby said sadly.

"It is true? That your mom ran off with the Jerome guy from the surf shop?"

"Yeah. It's also true my dad's an alky," Abby said harshly, waiting for the bitching.

"Wow, that sucks," Jared said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Abby looked at him – he was being sincere. "It's okay. I mean it's _not _but my dad's going to get sober, and my mom was always the town slut. I knew she would leave eventually. But then my dad will be okay and it'll be just me and him, like it pretty much always was."

"That's cool," Jared said.

"It will be," Abby said.

"You have a lot of confidence it will happen," Jared said.

"I have a lot of faith in the people I know. I know my dad won't let things end this way. And I know that I'll okay until then – Kim and Leanne are amazing. They let me in without blinking an eye. They're just really good people, you know?"

"Yeah, if her mom's like Kim then I bet they are."

"So if you hurt Kim, I'll kill you," Abby stated.

Jared looked over – that had come out of the blue. "What do you mean?"

"I saw you and Paul yesterday doing your little winking, thumbs up guy thing. Let me tell you right now so there's no confusion: Kim's probably the kindest, most loyal person you will ever meet. She may not be sweet and nice like Sam's famous Emily but she does what matters – she's there when it counts and she'll _never _let you down if she cares for you. And if you don't treat her in the _exact _same way, if you let her down or hurt her or don't treat her like the fucking princess she deserves to be treated like I will personally remove every inch of your skin with white-hot pincers, you understand?"

Jared nodded mutely. He did not underestimate the fierce look in Abby's eyes. "I would never hurt Kim, Abby."

"You better not, Jared Lane. Because I'm not the only one that would beat you to death if you did."

"She really does inspire loyalty, doesn't she?" Jared said.

"When someone cares for you as entirely as Kim does, it's hard not to feel the same way. I love her – she's the sister I never got. She's my best friend."

"I'll look after her, Abby, I swear it," Jared said fervently.

"I guess that will have to do then," Abby said. "This is me," she said, pointing to the door on their right.

"Okay. I've got Government last, what about you?"

"Biology, next door," Abby said.

"Right, I'll meet you outside your building at the end, okay?"

Abby nodded. "Okay. See you later, Jared."

"Bye, Abby. And thanks."

"For what?"

"For letting me near Kim."

"It's alright, just don't let me down."

"I won't." Jared turned back the way he came and had to run to Gym.

"Where have you been?" Paul hissed. "You're late."

"I know, I had to talk to Abby."

"Who?" Paul asked.

"Kim's friend. I'm going to see Kim after school."

"I guess I'm busing it home, then," Paul grumbled. Since they had become pack brothers they had been car-pooling. Today was Jared's day.

"Sorry, man. Why don't you come with us to Kim's?"

"Because I have better things to do than sit with baby and some girl I've never talked to while you pledge your undying heart to a girl you only realised existed two days ago!"

"Sorry, Paul," Jared said, slightly taken aback. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's you guys being in my freaking head with all your imprinting, love forever crap that's the problem. You guys have no idea how weird it is to dream of a girl you are not remotely interested in!"

"Who did you dream about, Kim or Emily?" Jared asked, pretending to be completely calm.

"Usually it's Emily after being on patrol with Sam when he's got lucky which, let's face it, happens _a lot._"

"Yeah, I remember," Jared said. He realised he had not had a freaky Emily dream since he had imprinted on Kim. He had not even looked at another girl. Interesting.

"Yeah, well, last night it was _your _girl and I'd rather not talk to her after that!" Paul grouched.

"Why?" Jared asked, his fingers balling the T-shirt he had just pulled over his head, his knuckles white. "What happened?"

Paul was too pissed off to recognise the warning signs in anyone else. "Everything, man! I dreamt about having sex with her, about _marrying _her, for god's sake. She's a nice girl, man, maybe a little plain, but overall okay, but I do _not _want to thinking about that when I finally have to meet her. Things could become...awkward."

"Because...?"

"Dude, I don't want to think about your girl naked!" Paul whined. That did it. Jared's nerves, already frayed over his own lack of success with Kim, snapped. Growling, he grabbed Paul by the throat and flipped him over his shoulder. Spinning, he crouched over Paul, snarling, his knee on Paul's chest, stopping his brother from getting up. His hands trembled and his vision went blurry as he fought the change – he could not change in such a public place. But, Gods, he wanted to rip Paul's throat out. The primal need to eliminate the competition rose up in Jared. Even as he fought to keep his human guise, Jared had never felt so wolf.

"Whoa, man," Paul said, putting his hands up in surrender. "Just keep it together, Jay. It's okay. I would never do that to you. It's not like I would stand a chance anyway."

"What do you mean?" Jared snapped through bared teeth.

"Didn't you see her wall, dude? All those drawings she did? Half of them were of _you _– just because you didn't see her until this week doesn't mean she's been so blind." There was sweat on Paul's brow and Jared could smell the fear in him – fear, not anger. Paul really thought Jared would hurt him. Of course he did – they both knew what happened to Emily when Sam lost it and that was to the one he loved, not the threat to his love.

Thinking about that, those scars grafted onto Paul's skin, living with the guilt he had felt in Sam's thoughts every time they were in their wolf form, Jared forced himself to calm down. He thought of Kim, of those drawings. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and let it out again. He took his knee off Paul's chest, standing up. Opening his eyes again, he saw Paul still lying on the floor, watching him warily. Jared reached down, offering his brother his hand. Paul took it and Jared pulled him to his feet, pulling him into a guy-hug. "I'm sorry," he whispered, barely audible in his shame.

"It's okay, bro," Paul said, clapping him on the back. They broke apart. "No harm, no foul, right?"

Jared smiled weakly, scared at how close he had come to killing Paul with his bare hands. "Right."

They looked up to see they had an audience. Every other guy in the locker room, in various states of undress, was looking at them gobsmacked. One guy's trousers slipped from his nerveless fingers and pooled around his ankles. They had all seen Jared flip Paul over his shoulder and pin him on the floor. No one had missed the bestial look on Jared's face or the anger that rolled off him in near palpable waves, as he crouched looking like he would murder his best friend right there and then.

The Coach pushed through the crowd. "What's going on here?" He knew exactly what had happened – he had seen Paul's legs as they wheeled in the air.

"Nothing, sir," said Paul, apparently unscathed.

"Nothing, sir," Jared echoed, unable to make eye contact.

"Nothing, huh? Then why is everyone else staring at you like you're Rocky Balboa, Lane?"

"I don't know, sir," Jared said.

"My office, Lane. Now!"

"But sir," Paul began.

"Can it, Matthews, and finish changing. That goes for all you ladies," the Coach barked. Nobody moved so he gave a short blast on his whistle. "NOW!"

Jared followed him mutely to his office. Looking down he saw his still had his shirt in one white-knuckled hand. He took the shirt in the other hand and flexed his hand. The knuckles burned in protest as the blood returned to them but the pain faded as they returned to their normal colour.

"What was that, Lane? And don't tell me nothing. You and Matthews have been inseparable since he came back to school. So, what was it, drugs?" The Coach eyed Jared's form. There was not an ounce of fat on the kid. It was not natural.

"No, sir, not drugs," Jared said, looking at the floor.

"Look at me, Lane, not your feet," Coach barked. Jared met his gaze and his teacher was struck by the haunted look in his eyes – the kid was putting himself through hell right now. "A girl," he asked his voice softer than before but still brooking no argument.

Jared nodded. "Right," the Coach sat behind his desk. "Of course it's a girl. What's this girl's name?" He expected Jared to name one of the cheerleaders that usually hung around his type – his boys were always getting into fight over those girls and their short skirts.

"Kim Lincoln, sir," Jared said.

Coach Tyler could not place her. "And what was the fight about?"

Jared knew better than to try to brush it off or lie to the Coach – he was a human lie detector and took no bullshit. "Paul had a dream about her, sir. I haven't exactly been successful with her and I guess I lost my temper. It won't happen again."

"It better not, and not just because the two of you are the size of wrestlers now and it would destroy _my _locker room. Jared, you may like this girl, but Paul's like a brother to you – everyone can see that. You don't want to lose him over this girl."

"No, sir. But I don't want to lose her either."

"She must be something special," Coach said. Dear God, his former track star was completely infatuated.

"She's incredible, sir. I love her." It was the first time he had said the words aloud to anyone, no imprinting to confuse the issue. He loved her and he had said it. It felt good.

"I see," Coach Tyler looked down at his hands, thinking, before looking up at Jared again. "Well, then, you need to get your temper under control – no woman should have to be with a man that can't keep his hands still when he's pissed off."

"Yes, sir, I know, sir." _Better than you could ever realise._

"Is everything else alright?" Coach Tyler had not been able to talk to Jared much recently. He had been a cocky little bastard at times, but he stuck to his guns and poured his heart into everything he did – Coach could not have asked for more. He had been out of school for almost a month – there had been talk about him coming back but then that Paul character had gone off sick, too, and Jared had not come back until Paul had.

"Yes, sir," Jared said. It was not a complete lie, the lack of sleep kind of sucked but on the whole he was doing fine again. Being a shape shifter felt almost normal to him now and he revelled in the strength and speed of his wolfen form. The rocking bod he had now was not exactly a bad thing either.

"Have you thought about what I said?"

"Yes, sir."

"And?"

"I can't do it, sir." One of the first things Jared had done when he came into school on Monday was to go to Coach and tell him that he could not run track anymore. He was giving up his ticket out of La Push, telling the man that had pushed and trained him for years that it had all be for nothing – in his senior year, just before the final hurdle, he was packing it all in. At the time Coach had been confused and pissed off. He had pushed Jared so hard because he knew the kid could deliver, could go to college on a scholarship and become something. Three days later, seeing Jared messed up over a girl, having nearly torn out the throat of his best friend, confused and scared, Coach wondered whether there was more to this than the doctor telling Jared it was not safe to run anymore.

"Jared, you know I'm still your Coach, right? I'm still here, pushing you to be the best. Still here for you."

Jared nodded. Jesus he needed to get out of here before he did something really embarrassing like cry – everything was crashing on top of him and he could not deal anymore. He wanted to run, just get on that track and run like he used to.

"Go on, kid," Coach knew when to push and when not to. If he poked Jared anymore, the poor kid would shatter, Coach Tyler could see it. "Get out of here. I want you running today, you got that?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Jared met his Coach's eyes briefly before leaving the office. The locker room was empty – everyone else had changed and got out as soon as possible.

Jared changed quickly, tying up his shoes and flexed his muscles. It would be nice to run again just to run. Not because he had a vamp to chase, or because he had patrol to run. Just running to run, to let his mind wander and work through what he had going on through his head.

Without looking at the rest of the class, lining up for basketball, Jared stretched then took off around the track. His steady pace was so much faster than it used to be but he was not tired. He could run like this for hours. He needed to.

"What are you ladies looking at?" Coach barked from the door. "Jared's taken so why don't you forget about it and get yourselves into teams."

Jared laughed – Coach was rough around the edges but he knew what to say and when.

_Review! Because you can and I like them!_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

The running had been a good idea. By the time Coach pull his whistle to signal the end of the class, Jared had found some semblance of balance and calm. He would tell Kim everything. He would talk to her today, getting back his mother's bracelet, and ask her out. Then, after the perfect first date, he would tell Kim everything and hoped the worst she did was faint. Or throw up. Hopefully not at the same time.

He pretended to breathe heavily as though running as such a pace for the whole lesson had been draining instead of invigorating.

"Lane," the Coach said. "Here."

Jared jogged up. "Hell of a run, son," Coach said.

"Thank you, sir."

"What ever happened to you, it's been good for your running," Coach said.

Jared winced inwardly – Coach could talk him back onto the team, Jared knew he could. "Thank you, sir."

"Thing is though, State's in a month and you've been off school for nearly that long. You're out of shape. I wouldn't be able to get you in shape in time to win it. I think it's better if I stick with the team we have now. Peters can win it for us."

Jared could have hugged him in gratitude. "I think so, too, sir."

"Good. Right well, what are you waiting for? A pat on the back? That was it, get inside."

"Thanks, sir," Jared said, heartfelt. But Coach still didn't get out of his way.

"You've obviously got a lot on your plate, son, I'm not going to add to that for the sake of a trophy," the Coach said in a low voice. Louder, he said, "get going, Lane, before I make you run that again."

"Yes, sir." Jared smiled at his Coach who returned it before gesturing with his head for Jared to move on.

Jared showered quickly and got dressed.

"So, what did Tyler say?" Paul asked.

"Asked whether it was drugs or a girl. I said it was a girl and that you had dreamt about her and I had snapped."

"Thanks for bringing me into it," Paul snarled.

"You were already in it, Paul – you were on the floor!"

"Whatever. Then what?"

"Then nothing, he told me to run so I ran."

"And that's it?"

"That's it."

Paul shook his head. "Boy, Coach is getting soft."

"You think so, Matthews?" asked Coach Tyler. Paul whirled around, his eyes wide.

"Uh, no, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Alright. Given that you got your ass handed to you in front of the entire locker room, I'll let it go this time."

Paul frowned at this but smartly said nothing. Jared spluttered, trying not to laugh and Coach Tyler walked into his office, trying to hide his smile.

"Thanks, Jay." Paul shoved Jared, sending him crashing into the lockers.

"I'll let that go, you know, since I already handed your ass to you," Jared grinned.

"Shut up before I change my mind and pay you back for that," Paul said.

Still grinning and feeling better than he had in a long time, Jared waited for Paul to stuff his belongings into his bag before they went to lunch. They piled their trays high and walked into the cafeteria. Before becoming shape shifters, Jared would sit with the jocks and cheerleaders and Paul would sit with the other angry young men destined for prison. Now though, they sat together, firstly so Jared could keep Paul out of trouble and secondly so they could talk pack stuff. It had worked the last couple of days. But now, Jared saw Abby sitting alone. Not just with no one next to her, but with no one at her table. Her mom had made her a social pariah. Paul was already heading for an empty table but Jared cocked his head in Abby's direction. Paul shook his head not understanding. Jared cocked his head again, rolled his eyes and walked over to Abby's table. Finally, Paul got it. Grumbling, he followed suit.

"Hey, Abby, mind if we join?" Jared said.

Abby looked up, thunderstruck. "Why?"

"Because we want to," Jared said slowly, gauging the situation. _Don't be pushy – it didn't work with Kim, it probably won't work with Abby either. _"We can sit somewhere else if you want us to."

"Your friend doesn't look like he wants to sit here," Abby said, looking at the frowning Paul.

"His friend doesn't give a fuck where he sits as long as he gets to do it soon so he can _eat," _Paul said.

"Then, sure, I don't mind." Abby moved her stuff off the chairs so the boys could sit down.

"Thanks," Jared smiled and slid into the seat opposite Abby, Paul sitting next to him and beginning to wolf down his food.

Abby looked at him stunned.

"What?" Paul asked, his mouth full of cheeseburger.

"Is he always like this?" Abby asked Jared.

"What do you mean? Grouchy or a pig?" Jared asked. Abby laughed.

Paul swallowed. "You know, it's not polite to talk about someone in the third person when that person is here."

"Shut up and eat, man," Jared said laughing. "And yes," he said to Abby, "he is always both grouchy and a pig. Food doesn't seem to improve his mood."

"That's a shame," Abby said. She had only a pot of fruit in front of her.

"You aren't hungry?" Jared asked.

Abby shook her head. "Not like you guys, apparently," she said, eyeing the mound of mashed potato, pizza, burger, pasta and sauce, and cake both boys had grabbed. And three cartons of milk a piece.

"Just got out of Gym," Jared said.

"I see," Abby said, clearly not.

"So," Jared said changing the subject as he began to eat his own food. "What's it like living with Kim?"

"It's great. There's not a lot of room, of course, but already they're talking about renting a bigger house so I can have my own room. They really are so welcoming."

"That's cool," Jared said.

"Yeah, it's a two bedroom house on Jefferson Street – small but we manage. It's actually been kind of fun. You should have seen it yesterday when we tried to put the crib in Kim's old room, where her mom sleeps now. Jimmy learned three new swear words before we gave up!" She smiled at the thought. "He's a sweet kid. Kim's great with him."

That was the second time someone said that. "So, is he her kid?" Paul asked bluntly. "She wouldn't look after him so much if he wasn't, right?"

"Wrong," Abby said shortly. "She looks after him because her mom works night and day to make ends meet. Leanne takes him to work with her during the day and Kim has him in the evenings while her mom's sleeping or at work. He's her brother, not her son."

"Whatever," Paul said shrugging. "I don't care; I'm not the one in love with her."

"Shut up, Paul!" Jared hissed.

Too late, Abby had heard. "In love, huh? You've been talking about Kim to this guy?"

"Incessantly," Paul said. "What do you mean 'this guy'?"

"Incessantly? Really?" Abby smirked at Jared who flushed, for once feeling as hot as he seemed to everyone else.

"Shut up, you two."

"Jared, are blushing?" Paul asked, peering at his friend's face.

"Shut up!" Jared said again. Paul and Abby started laughing as Jared pouted.

"Don't worry, Jared. Kim likes you, too. Has for a while."

"Good," Jared nodded. "That's good, 'cause I'm kinda floundering with her right now."

"Well, Kim's a pretty private person. Bulldozing your way through is not going to get you anywhere with her. She may be quiet at school but she's stubborn as the devil."

"So, what do I do?" Jared asked leaning in.

"Be yourself," Abby said. She ignored Paul when he snorted. "It may sound clique but it's true. Kim can spot a lie a mile off. If you bullshit her, she's just going to dismiss you entirely – she doesn't waste her time with people who aren't honest. I don't mean like she's a nun and never lies, I mean about the big stuff, like what kind of person you are and where you want this to go. If you try to be someone other than yourself she'll never talk to you again, so if you've got some big bad secret that will impact your relationship with her, or impact her family, you need to tell her as soon as possible and weather the following storm. It's the only way."

"That sounds daunting," Jared said.

"Do you think she's worth it?" Abby asked.

"Yes," Jared said without hesitation.

"Good," Abby smiled. "Then god speed. And you might want to sit up before you get your lunch on you." Jared looked down to see his fitted shirt was very close to his food indeed. He sat back and started eating again. "Better. Kim can handle messy guys but you don't really want to remind her of her little brother if you're trying to date her."

It had somehow been harder getting through the day without seeing her than Jared had found the nights. Sam had said it was probably because Jared had been expecting to see Kim but instead had been told she was ill – Jared had called him from the pay phone near the end of lunch. But now he was pulling up outside her house with Abby in the passenger seat. He was practically buzzing at the thought of seeing her again. Really seeing for the first time when it was not the middle of the night so she asleep and not at school where they could be interrupted at any moment – she could have an actual conversation with him this time!

Abby knocked on the door – she still did not have a key since the landlord did not _officially _know Abby was now living here. Leanne opened the door, smiling warmly at Abby before seeing Jared. He saw panic in her eyes before she replaced it with polite confusion.

"Leanne, this is Jared," Abby said. "He was wondering how Kim was – he has her assignment from Math."

"Oh, okay, well, please come in, then," Kim's mother spoke with a soft British accent. She had the straight, crow black hair and copper skin of the Native Americans. Her eyes were a sparkling green. She did not look old enough to have a teenager for a child. Passing her in the street Jared would have put her at thirty at a push. "Kim's in the living room with Jimmy."

Jared smiled a little awkwardly at Leanne, feeling huge in this house of delicate looking women, and followed Abby into the living room.

There she was. Abby went over to the playpen to see Jimmy, who stood up and squawked for her when he saw her but Jared barely noticed the child. Kim was sleeping, facing the back of the sofa. She rolled over in her sleep, the pushed down blankets tangling in her legs, her shirt riding up over her stomach. Now on her right side, Jared could clearly see the long, jagged scar running down the length of her left side. It disappeared up under her top and under the waistband of her sweats.

Jared felt the ripple of heat down his spine. He clenched his trembling hands. _Do not phase. Do not phase, _he recited. _There are three women, a toddler and none of your pack in sight. Do NOT PHASE!_

"Jared? You okay?" It was Abby. Jared had automatically closed his eyes to help him focus and opened them to find Abby holding Jimmy, looking at him strangely.

"I'm fine," he croaked, sounding anything but.

On the sofa Kim woke up. She went from dead asleep to alert instantly. She frowned at Jared. Abby was already explaining why Jared was here before Kim could ask.

"Oh, okay," Kim said, just as her mother had done. She stood up and held her arms out for Jimmy and Abby passed him over. Jimmy looked delighted that Kim was finally awake, reaching for her hair. Kim shook the sleep tangled locks over her shoulders and caught Jimmy's little chubby hand, kissing it to replace the prize she had deprived him of. Jimmy settled in, putting his head under Kim's chin and his thumb in his mouth. Kim rested her cheek on top of his head and stood there swaying them both gently for a moment. Jared watched, aching to be part of the embrace, to put his arms around Kim and hold her as they rocked. For it to be his child in her arms.

"Jared, I'm putting the kettle on, would you like a cup of tea?" Leanne asked him. With difficulty, Jared pulled his attention away from the young woman with the baby in her arms to the woman speaking to him. "Yes, please. If it's no trouble."

"No, no trouble," Leanne assured him. She was very nice and friendly but something was off. Jared had had to rely on his instincts enough to know he could trust them; something was not right. It was confirmed when Leanne looked over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen, giving him a searching look.

She did not like him. She did not like the way he looked at her daughter. Jared looked at Kim as though nothing else existed or mattered to him. Some mothers may have liked it for a potential suitor to be so devoted but Leanne had been on the receiving end of those types of looks once before – she had ended up with two kids, no permanent address and more scars than she could count.

Leanne put the kettle on, her fingers drumming on the counter. She had felt guilty leaving Jimmy with Kim today but she could not bring a sick baby to work with her and she could not afford _not _go to work. Since Kim was clearly unfit for school and Jimmy only needed someone in the house to make sure he was okay, Leanne had let Kim talk her into leaving the two of them at home. Leanne hated days like this, they made her feel like she was the worst parent on the planet.

Now there was this Jared kid in the picture. She had heard about him, of course, but never met him before. Not personally. Leanne wished he had not come around. They could run from one man, but not two.

The kettle clicked off and Leanne poured the boiling water into the teapot on a tray. She added cups, milk and biscuits and took it all into the living. Abby was sat on the floor with Jimmy and Kim. Kim had Jimmy between her legs, holding him as he and Abby rolled a bright, multicoloured ball between them. Jared was sitting in the armchair but stood up when Leanne came in the room. He took the tray off her and she noted how he walked around the three on the floor and put the tray on the coffee table, rather than leaning over them to take the tray thus risking spilling hot tea on them.

So he was not an idiot. That was one point in his favour, Leanne allowed. But just one.

She sat on the sofa and Kim leant against her, her back on her mother's legs. Leanne reached out to stroke Kim's hair. Jared sat in the armchair again, looking at Kim.

Unable to look away for long it seemed, since he would answer whatever question Leanne put to him but his eyes would snap back to Kim in an instant. It was disconcerting.

"So, you and Kim are friends?" Leanne asked. At this question, Kim looked over at Jared to see what he would say.

"Kind of. We started talking this week actually." Jared coloured slightly.

"But you didn't talk before that?" Leanne had found the weakness and exploited it.

"No, not really."

"Why is that?"

"I really don't know. I haven't been to school in a month."

"Kim, how long have you been at that school?" Leanne asked, not taking her eyes off Jared.

"Three months, I think," Kim said from the floor. She tore her gaze from Jared with difficulty and went back to resolutely not looking at him. "Since the beginning of the school year."

"But you didn't talk in the two months while you were in school together?" Leanne asked.

"No, ma'am," Jared said. Even to him the room seemed hot. But Leanne was sitting there, cool as you please, that slight, amused smile on her face she had passed on to Kim.

"And why is that?" she asked sweetly. On the floor, Kim silently begged her mother to stop.

"I don't know, ma'am," Jared said, though he knew perfectly well why. He had been popular, Kim had not been. He had been the track star; she had been the invisible new kid. They may have sat next to each other in Math but they were worlds apart. Jared hated who he had been, that blind, stupid little boy.

"It seems a shame is all. So, why are you here, Jared?"

"I came to give Kim her assignment."

"And you couldn't give it to Abby?"

"No, ma'am."

"Why is that?"

"I wanted to see Kim, ma'am."

"Enough of the ma'am, Jared, Ms Lincoln will do just fine."

"Yes, Ms Lincoln."

"So, why did you want to see Kim?"

"I missed her at school today."

"You did? And why is that?"

"I don't know, Ms Lincoln." Jared really wished Sam was there with him. Then maybe Kim's mum would not be 5'6" of sweat-inducing terror.

"Pity."

"Mum, enough, leave him alone," Kim said.

"I was just having a conversation, Kim."

"No, you weren't, you were grilling him. Give it a rest." Kim stood up and plonked Jimmy on their mother's lap to pour the tea no one else seemed interested in anymore. She passed everyone a cup. Jared's fingers brushed hers and only his lightning reflexes prevented her dropping the cup in his lap at the intensity of the feeling the touch provoked. She took a seat next to her mother, who had since put Jimmy in the playpen, cradling the tea in her lap.

"My mum was wondering if she could have her bracelet back," Jared said.

Leanne looked confused but Kim looked up. "Oh, yes, of course. I forgot, hold on a minute." Kim stood and left the room. Jared tried really, _really _hard not to notice the grace and poise Kim possessed even when nearly dead on her feet. He failed. Completely.

"Jared," Leanne said. Jared's head snapped to look at her – he had been following the way Kim's hips moved when she walked which had naturally led to him staring at her ass.

"Sorry." Jared took a gulp of tea.

Kim came back and handed Jared the bracelet. He was disappointed in the obvious care she took to prevent them from touching again. "Thanks."

"No problem. Tell your mum I'm sorry. I didn't even realise we still had it until we got home and Jimmy was shaking it around. You're lucky he's out of the biting stage or it might have gotten broken."

"Don't worry about it. I chewed this thing when I was teething," Jared said. He looked down at the bracelet. It was a charm bracelet his dad had given his mum after he was born.

"You chewed that bracelet?"

"Yeah," he smiled down, still looking at the bracelet. "They've had this bracelet as long as they've had me. My dad gets my mum a new charm for it every year on my birthday. Little things that represent me. Last year it was a tiny silver shoe – I'd just joined the track team."

"That's sweet," Kim said. She had looked at the bracelet, fascinated by the charms that seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them but now they made sense.

"Yeah, it's my mum's favourite thing. She cried when she thought she'd lost it. She cried again when I found it under the passenger seat in the car." Leanne saw the gentle, absorbed smile on Jared's face when he looked at the bracelet and spoke of his family.

"You're obviously a close family," Leanne said gently.

It was the first time she had spoken to him without that tone that made Jared feel like she was testing him. "Yeah, we are." He shrugged. "Happens when you go through stuff, you know."

"Yeah, we know," Kim said, looking over at Jimmy. While Jared looked proud of the fact his family had gotten through 'stuff', Kim just looked sad.

Leanne sat quietly for a moment. This boy was not at all as she had expected. There was more to him than there initially appeared to be. Leanne hoped this was not the dark depth that would hurt her daughter. "And how's your family now, Jared? Okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Are you an only child?" Leanne asked, trying to continue the pleasant conversation.

A look of sadness passed over Jared's face but it was quickly gone. "Yes, Ms Lincoln, I am. It's just me and my mum and dad at home. My grandma's still around. But I've got Paul and Sam; they're like my brothers. And then there's Sam's Emily. Family's gotten kinda big in the last month or so."

"That's good. It's nice to have family," Leanne said.

"It's just the three of us," Kim said. "Four, now, until Abby's dad is better."

"You never wanted a bigger family?" Jared asked her, finally, _finally, _getting to talk to her.

"It's just never been," Kim said. Jared had had to dodge enough awkward questions since becoming a shape shifter to recognise hedging when he saw it.

"I'm going to talk Jimmy upstairs," Leanne said out of the blue. She walked over and picked Jimmy up. "I'll see you all later. Nice meeting you, Jared."

Jared had gotten to his feet when Leanne stood. "Nice meeting you, Ms Lincoln."

"Yeah, I'm going to go up, too," Abby said. "Not all of us are brain boxes like Kim. Some of us have to work to get a decent grade." She poked her tongue out at Kim who aimed a kick at Abby which was dodged neatly.

"You seem to get along well," Jared said.

Kim grabbed the blanket off the end of the sofa and laid it over her crossed legs. "Yeah, we get along fine. Abby's been really good to have around."

"Guess it's not so bad to have a bigger family," Jared said.

Kim looked at him, her gaze colder than he would have liked. "I never said there was anything was wrong with a large family, I said we have never had one. I would have loved one but...life never pans out the way you want it to."

"No it doesn't," Jared said, thinking not just about the pack but about his family before that, the choices his parents had made. The paths none of them had chosen.

"So, where's this assignment?" Kim asked.

Jared fished around in his bag and took out the sheet. "Here. Mr Thompson said you could give it in when you come back."

"When is it due in for the rest of you?"

"Tomorrow."

Kim sighed. She wanted nothing more than to sleep tonight. She did not want to do this assignment.

"I'm sure he'll understand if you don't give it in."

"No, I'll do it. I can't afford not to."

"Are you going to school tomorrow?" Jared asked, mentally crossing every crossable part of his body.

"I don't know. If Jimmy's better and I sleep tonight then maybe."

"You're not sleeping well?" Jared wanted her to tell him. He wanted to make it better for her.

"No. This week, I don't know, I just get the feeling like someone's watching me, that they're just out of my sight. It's just making me edgy. I hate the thought of someone being there while I'm sleeping."

Jared's stomach plummeted. It was his fault. Sam had been right. He had been so absorbed by his need to see her he never thought about what effect it would have on her. He had never thought she would have been able to feel him there.

She noted his silence. "I know, you think I'm crazy. I know it doesn't make any sense to you but it does to me. I know I'm paranoid."

"Maybe you're not," Jared said.

"So, what, there _is _someone lurking outside my bedroom window at night?" Kim tried to laugh the idea off but the laugh was brittle and unconvincing and she soon stopped.

Jared shook his head. "I don't know what I think," he said truthfully.

"Jared, can I ask why you are really here? I know you said to give me the assignment and to get your mum's bracelet but you could have told Abby about them and they would have been dealt with tomorrow, which would have been more logical than waiting to see if I turned up."

"I wanted to see you," Jared said quietly.

"You said that."

"I didn't want to have to wait until tomorrow. I wanted to see you now."

"Why?" Kim asked, shaking her head.

"Kim, this won't make any sense to you but I _had _to see you. It was more than want. I damn near went crazy today."

"Why?"

"Because you weren't there."

"Jared, you didn't notice me for two months? Do you honestly expect me to believe now you can't get through _one day _without seeing me?" Kim asked him.

"No, but it's the truth."

Kim stood up, putting the blanket aside. Jared stood as she had expected him to – he always stood when a female in the room did, though she had no idea why. She walked to the door and Jared followed her as though it was a compulsion to be near her. She opened the door. "Jared, please leave."

"What?" Jared could not believe it. She was kicking him out!

"Please leave," she reiterated firmly. "I don't know what's going on with you and I don't think I want to. All I do know is that ever since you came back to school you've been acting really weird. I can't get my head around it and I've spent the week with a headache trying to figure it out. I really think it would be best if you leave _now_. Tomorrow's Friday, I won't be at school and Abby will get my assignments for me. We won't see each other over the weekend and on Monday I hope everything will be back to the way it was and we can consider this week an aberration never to be spoken of, okay?"

"But, Kim –"

"Get out, Jared, now." He was stood at the door to the living room, about five feet away from where Kim stood holding open the door. Jared bent down and picked his bag up and walked past her.

"I'll see you on Monday, Kim," he looked at her, willing her to understand. "But this wasn't an aberration. Everything is different now and nothing can turn it back to the way it was. I don't want it to go back to the way it was. I don't want to stop loving you."

He walked to his car, got in and drove away. Kim shut the door and leant against it, sliding down it until she was sat on the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.


	12. Chapter 12

_Okay, quick note – I hear you guys about Paul and Abby and I am storing it away, I promise! You guys have even got me writing another fan fiction now since I can't get the two of them out of my head and think they deserve their own story! Goddamn you awesome people! _

Chapter Twelve

Leanne came downstairs with Jimmy in her arms at the sound of the closing door to find Kim, cradling herself against the door, the carefully blank expression on her face that scared Leanne to the depths of her soul – she had seen it all too often and never because of anything good. Abby was right behind her so Leanne gave Jimmy to the young girl and hurried down to her daughter.

"Kim, honey?" she said. She sat next to Kim, putting her arms around her teenager. Kim held herself stiff for a moment before leaning into her mother. "What happened?"

"I told him to go."

"What did he do?"

"Told me he loved me."

"Oh dear." Leanne kissed Kim's head and rested her cheek there. She rocked Kim gently back and forth like they did with Jimmy. Silent tears coursed down Kim's face.

"I don't want to leave!" she said.

"We don't have to," Leanne soothed.

"How can we stay now?" Kim sobbed.

"We'll figure it out," said her mother, stroking her back.

"I'm so tired, Mum," Kim wept, holding onto her mother. "I'm just so tired!" Everything felt like it had piled up and she had no way of digging herself out.

"Go up to bed now, and get to sleep," Leanne said.

"But I have to –"

"You have nothing to do," Leanne said, firmly. "You do too much. Go upstairs, go to bed. Sleep. You can let someone else take care of things, Kim. You don't have to be the responsible one in this house."

"But you have so much else to do," Kim said.

"Work? Raise a family? Honey, people do more and they don't make their seventeen year olds be the adult. Kim, you're going to have to stop trying to look after everyone, baby girl. You're going to make yourself ill."

"But who will take care of you if I don't?"

Leanne shrugged. "I'll take care of myself."

"But we're a family, we're meant to take care of each other," Kim said, wiping her face.

"No, Kim, I'm the parent. I'm meant to do the taking care of. I've been dropping the ball lately but I promise, things will be different from now on."

"How? You work three jobs because we need the money."

"No, we don't. I've been talking to Charlie. The other secretary is retiring. I'm going to be working full time at the station from now on. Full time is much better pay than the work I'm doing now. I can quit working at that goddamn bar, actually be here at night. I won't be able to stop cleaning houses just yet, but we can look at getting a bigger place. We can try being normal."

"What about Carl?" Kim asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Leanne said. "One good thing about working in the police department in a small town – you're on the Chief of Police's Christmas card list. Charlie's a good guy – he'll help us out."

Kim wanted to believe her mum. It sounded so good, so easy. But they had tried to make a home before. They had ended up on the eleven o'clock news.

Leanne seemed to know what she was thinking. "We'll make it work, Kimmy. I _will _make this work."

They stood up, a little awkwardly since neither of them wanted to let go of the other. "I'm going to bed," Kim said, choosing not to deal with the prospect of home just yet.

"Okay, baby." Leanne kissed her forehead. Kim went upstairs, kissing Jimmy's cheek and hugging Abby as she past. She crawled into the double bed, pulled the covers up and fell into a deep sleep, unbroken by the feeling that someone was waiting, just past the boundaries of her house.

Somehow, Jared made it home. He did not quite know how, but he did. He was later home than usual so his mum was already there when he let himself into the house. Wordlessly, he dropped the bracelet onto the end table next to her and shuffled upstairs.

"Jared?" Tally called after him, concerned.

"Not now, Mum, okay?" Jared said. He pushed open the door of his room, dropped his stuff on the floor and fell onto the bed. He wanted oblivion but the image of Kim, tired, pale and unable to cope, lurked in his mind, burned onto his eyelids to haunt him whenever he closed his eyes.

Downstairs, Tally wanted to talk to him but ever since her son had turned into a shape shifter she had gone from feeling like she did not understand her son to knowing she didn't. They were close, the three of them. They talked. But Jared was dealing with things she and his father had never been though before. She decided to wait until Jared came down of his own accord. If he was not down by the time George came home and dinner was ready, she could send his father up to talk to him.

At six, dinner was ready, George was walking through the front door, and Jared had not left his room. Tally sent George upstairs.

George knocked on his son's door. He got something that could be interpreted as a grunt and went in. Jared was curled up on his bed. At first George thought he must be ill and wanted to yell for Tally but no, Jared was not ill. Not physically.

"What's up, Jay-bird?" he asked, sitting on the edge of Jared's bed, putting his hand on his son's shoulder. "Your mum and I are worried about you."

Jared contemplated lying but he did not have the energy to lie. His father was never fooled anyway.

"Is it Kim? Has something else happened between the two of you?" As usual, his father was scarily perceptive.

"I've made her ill," Jared said, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. "She knew when I was there on my patrols. She couldn't sleep all week. That's why she wasn't at school today. I made her sick."

"I'm sure there's more to this than just you, Jay-bird," George said, frowning in concern.

"There is but she won't tell me. I feel like I'm going in circles with her, Dad. Nothing goes the way I think it will. We're not getting anywhere!"

"It's only been a week," his father reasoned.

"Sam put Emily in the hospital. She was unconscious and drugged and it still only took them four days when she woke up."

"Well, Sam did offer to through himself under a truck when she woke up. And he cried, which kind of changed the roles, Jared. It became _Sam_ that was wounded and _Emily _the one that needed to protect. Maybe you're not getting anywhere because you need to switch the roles. Let _her _be the strong one. From what I've heard, it sounds like that's the only kind of person she can be."

Jared took his head off his arm to look at his father properly. "How do you do it? You and Mum? After everything you guys are still together. I don't know if I can do that."

"Believe me, kid, there were times when I didn't think we would make it either. At first, no one thought we would last the day. But we wanted to be with each other more than we wanted to be apart. We remembered that and fought through the rest the best we could."

"I miss Johnny, Dad," Jared said.

"I miss him, too, kid," George said.

"I wish he was here. I wish I could talk to him. I need him so bad right now."

"Why don't you? You can still talk to him, Jay-bird. He's listening."

Jared nodded. He got up and his father followed him out of the room. They went downstairs to the kitchen where Tally was waiting apprehensively. Jared went up to his mother and put his arms around her.

"You okay, baby?" she asked him.

"No," he said. "I'm going to go talk to Johnny." He put his arms down.

"Okay, honey, I'll keep the food warming for you," she patted his chest, leaving her hand there. Her words were normal but Jared could see her fighting back the tears.

"Thanks Mum." Jared put his hand on his father's shoulder briefly before walking out of the front door.

He decided to walk. He walked slowly, taking his time getting to the cemetery. He walked through the neat rows of graves until he came to his brother's. Jonathan David Lane, fifteen years old when he died.

Jared had been ten. He had worshipped his brother. Now he was without him, going through the toughest period of his life, wishing he had his older brother with him to weather the storm.

"Hey, Johnny," he said, sitting down facing the headstone. There was a small picture of Johnny in a glass window on the headstone and Jared looked at it as he spoke. "So, I know I haven't been to see you in a while. A lot of stuff's being going on and it's just been really crazy.  
"But that's not the real reason I haven't been here. I just couldn't, you know? I mean, I'm immortal or whatever now and you're...still gone. When I first changed I woke up the next day and I kind of thought that you would be there. Like we had a second chance or something. But you weren't. You were still here.  
"I got a couple of new pack brothers – Paul Matthews and Sam Uley. They're cool. It's weird to think that if you had lived you would have changed first. I keep thinking how different things would have been if you had been Alpha. Then I figured out you would have had to change. You would have had to be like Sam, you know – centred, serene, in charge. And that just wasn't you, Johnny. You and Paul would have killed either – you always love pushing boundaries and people's buttons; you and Paul would have beaten each other to a pulp in the first day.  
"I still wish you were one of us, though. You would have stepped aside for Sam, then Jacob when he changes. You never wanted to lead. Can't be the rebel if you're the one making the rules, right?" Jared gave a short laugh that hurt. "I came down here because I went back to school this week. Been one of the longest weeks of my life, man. Everything is insane. It's weird having to go to school, but then changing into a wolf and running around La Push looking for vampires to kill feels normal. I guess because it's a part of me, it's in our blood."

Jared ran his hand through his bristly hair. "I got girl issues which is why I'm really here. Yeah, yeah, you're chubby little brother grew up and got a girl. Not really got her since we haven't yet had a civil conversation and she threw me out of her house two hours ago, but hey, the fun's in the fight, right, big brother?  
"Anyway, this girl, Kim Lincoln. She's amazing, man. What she does, looking after her family and still getting good grades, I mean she must be seriously brainy. And beautiful, too, you know. But not in the obvious way, which I'm kind of grateful for because otherwise I would have some serious competition. Or maybe I wouldn't. She's really good at being in the background, like the person you don't notice until someone else points them out. I didn't see her until this week. You always said I never saw the big things. Well, I missed the earth-shifting one. Imprinting is crazy, dude. But everything I do ends up being wrong. Probably because I'm working off of other people's intel and what worked with other girls. Which won't work with Kim because she's _not like_ other girls. She's something else, something I don't understand because she won't talk to me. She doesn't trust me. Doesn't bode well for the 'I'm a werewolf' conversation we're going to have to have at some point. Best before I get her pregnant. That's another thing. Last week I didn't know she existed. This week I'm wondering how long I have to wait until I can get her up the aisle and into the maternity ward. It's crazy. But it's what I want. I want it all with her. And I want it forever.  
"It's going to be tough, though, man. I think someone hurt her, like _really _hurt her in the past. She's got this huge scar on her side – you don't get that kind of scar by accident, no way. It would explain a lot of things, like why she stays in the background, and why she's paranoid of people watching her at night. Although, it's not really paranoia when I really was there – I'm a stalker, I know! I was trying to make sure she was alright! – I just wish there was a way were we could talk about it all with no one else around; just her and me and time to figure it out. That's what Dad basically said, that he and Mum knew they wanted each other and then just fought through the rest of it together. I know I want Kim, I know that won't ever change. But I don't know if she'll fight there with me or be pushing away from me. I can't get anywhere near her. She backs off whenever I try to get close to her. It's not normal, Johnny – I've never had to try so hard! It's not that she's not worth it; I just don't know if I can do it. Dad says I need to swop the roles, stop trying to be the protector. You'd tell me to forget the rules. Maybe I should. I can't expect her to tell me everything if I don't tell her everything. But then, do I really want to tell her all about you? I can't, Johnny; I can't tell anyone what you meant to me. There aren't words, she won't understand."

An image floated up out of Jared's mind. It was Kim and Jimmy. He saw the look on Kim's face as she closed her eyes and held him close, ignoring the rest of the world, content in just swaying her little brother. The tears on her face she tried to get him to sleep, so beyond exhausted yet unable to leave her brother uncomforted. "Maybe she will understand. Because maybe she loves Jimmy the way you loved me. Maybe I love you the way Jimmy loves her, and he does love her, Johnny. Two years old, and his whole world gets brighter just by her being there." Jared looked up at the gravestone. He did not know whether it was merely the talking it out until it made sense that made him feel better or the feeling that somehow, wherever his brother was now, Johnny could hear him and was cheering for his little brother, his Jay-bird, but talking to Johnny always made Jared feel better. There was nothing he could not tell Johnny because there was no secret Johnny had not been able keep. "I still miss you Johnny, everyday. But soon, soon we will have been without you longer than we would have been with you. It doesn't seem right, when sometimes it feels like we lost you just yesterday.  
"Keep looking out for me, big brother. Something tells me I need someone in my corner for what's to come."

Jared reached out to the headstone, pressing his fingers to the picture of his brother. "I promise I won't stay away so long next time, Johnny. I love you, bro."

Jared stood up, stretching the muscles in his long legs that ached from sitting in one, cramped position for so long. He looked at his brother's grave one last time before he walked away, his long stride eating up the ground between him and home.

_Same as my other fan fiction, I've got a few chapters written and I want to get them uploaded before I get swamped. But as always, keep reviewing!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Hey guys! Updating soon, like I promised, 'cause you guys reviewed: Beachbunny24; wolflover101canadian; megg.x; Wishes R Shooting Stars; dazzleglo; SofiaVon; laurazuleta18. Thanks so much!_

Chapter Thirteen

The next day, Kim woke up feeling so much better than she had the day before. She didn't feel like the world was caving in on her anymore. She didn't worry about possible stalkers hiding in her garden late at night.

She wanted to see Jared. Going three days until school on Monday without seeing him felt like a life sentence. She didn't know why she wanted to see him but she decided not to question it any longer. Her gut had saved her enough times for her to know to trust in her instincts.

As she got dressed in the bathroom so as not to disturb Abby or Jimmy – she had slept a solid eleven hours so she was wide away at five in the morning – Kim caught sight of the tattoo on her hip. Pausing in pulling up her jeans she stroked the wolf howling at the full moon, smiling to herself. She loved her wolf, loved what it represented to her. Not many knew about it. She purposely wore boy shorts to hide it at school when changing for Gym. It was her dirty little secret and she had never regretted getting it done.

She went downstairs and put the kettle on. She did her homework at the kitchen table as the sun rose on a new day.

_A good day, _Kim thought to herself as she heard movement from upstairs. She put away her finished work and went upstairs.

"Kim!" Leanne jumped coming out of her room to see her daughter wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a hoodie instead of her pyjamas. "What – why are you dressed already?"

"I woke up at five," Kim shrugged. "It wasn't the alarm, I just couldn't sleep anymore!" she said in defence to her mother disapproving look. "You get dressed, I'll get breakfast."

"Okay," Leanne kissed her daughter's forehead. "Glad you're feeling better, Kim-cake. I gather you'll be going to school today?"

"Yeah, unless Jimmy's still poorly."

"If Jimmy's ill, _I _will be the one to stay at home with him," Leanne said.

"Alright, yesterday's epiphany is still going strong I see," Kim said.

"Watch it, missy," Leanne said, swiping her daughter's backside. Kim laughed and dodged, twirling into the room she shared with Abby and Jimmy. Abby was still the same mound in the bed Kim had left her as an hour ago. Kim poked the mound, got growled at, and poked it again until it finally moved. Picking up Jimmy, Kim threw Abby's robe over the other girl's tousled haired head as it emerged from under the bed covers. "Breakfast, let's go," she said.

"Too perky," Abby moaned, putting the robe on. She slouched after Kim, practically sliding down the stairs into the kitchen. Kim put the kettle on, put bread in the toast and stopped Jimmy from eating a bug he found on the floor. "You better today?"

"Yeah. Wonders what a good night's sleep can do, eh?" Kim grabbed a piece of toast and spread strawberry jam on it.

Abby sat down at the table. "I was really worried about you yesterday. It's not like you to let things get to you."

Kim shrugged. "Of course things get to me. I can take anything to a point then it's just gets too much." Jimmy squealed on the floor, reaching for Kim who picked him up.

"But you just take it. You don't let it out – it builds to critical mass and then you...implode, like Peter Petrelli."

Kim raised an eyebrow at the comparison. "I haven't had the time lately."

"To do what? What do you do for you, Kim?" Abby asked.

"I don't know. There's a punch bag in the garage I'm pretty fond of."

"What about the drawing, the music?"

"It's a good way to make money," Kim shrugged.

"Don't give me that, Kim. I've seen the look on your face when you play. When you draw."

"What's your point, Abby," Kim said irritably.

"I think you should spend more time looking after yourself."

"I'll add it to the list," Kim said dryly, shifting Jimmy to the other hip.

Abby sighed. She should have known better than to try to talk to Kim about time management. Actually, she did know better but had not counted on Kim's stubbornness being so strong this early in the morning.

Leanne came swanning into the kitchen. She plucked Jimmy from Kim's arms, balanced him on one hip and pressed her hand to his forehead. Pressing it to the back of his neck, she nodded. "He's better."

"You taking him to work with you, then?" Kim asked.

"Yeah," Leanne said.

"Give him here, then," Kim said, taking her little brother back. "You have breakfast while I get him washed and dressed." She swept out of the kitchen.

"What happened?" Leanne asked, resigned.

"_Weeell_, I may have made the suggestion that she spent more time looking after herself than everyone else," Abby said with a wince.

"Great, she's probably going to be pissy all day," Leanne said.

"I was just trying to help," Abby mumbled.

"I know, sweetheart. But there are certain things that just push Kim's buttons. Suggesting she can't handle absolutely everything under the Sun is one of them. She has to be in control of everything – it's her way of being okay."

"Can I ask a question?" Abby said.

"I suppose so," Leanne said. Normally they did anything and everything to avoid answering questions but since this was Abby, who was now living with them and pretty much a member of the family, Leanne decided to make an allowance.

"What happened to you guys? I mean, Kim's told me that her dad didn't care if he hurt you or her but what does that mean?"

Leanne propped her chin on her fist. "Kim's dad was...not a nice guy. We met in high school. I was fourteen, he was sixteen and I thought the Sun shone out of his...well, you get the idea. He became a cop after graduating. I had barely graduated myself by the time we were married and I was pregnant. Carl had always scared me. He was so intense about _us."_

"But why marry him if he scared you?"

"Because, the way he spoke, it was like it was inevitable. He never saw us ending up any other way and I was so enthralled I didn't want to. Not at first. It was that thrilling kind of fear, you know, the 'he'd kill for me, oh my god,' kind of fear."

"The 'me beast, you Jane in a skimpy outfit' thing?" Abby clarified.

Leanne pointed a finger at the girl. "Precisely. For a while, yeah, it was a little fun. Then I had Kim and I saw the down side of it."

"He didn't like that you loved Kim, too?"

"No, no, that he loved. That was what he wanted. He wanted to work and come home to a wife and as many kids as he could get out of me. He just didn't care if it was what _I _wanted. He wanted the perfect family right out of the fifties. And he didn't care what he had to do to get it. He was just fine with hitting us if that was what it took to 'keep us in line'. Even Kim. The first time he hit her she was two, I think. I wanted to get out there but I was so scared. Abby, you don't know what fear like that can do to a person. I felt like getting out wasn't possible, like the only thing I could do was protect her the best I could. When he got angry at Kim I would yell at him so he would hit me instead." Leanne's eyes had glazed over; she was looking at something only she could see.

"What made you finally leave?" Abby asked.

Leanne took a deep breath. Abby saw the pain flash across her face. "One night, Carl came home in a rage. Nothing would calm him down. We fought. I tried to keep him quiet so he wouldn't wake Kim but it didn't really work. He hit me and I feel down the stairs. I miscarried."

"You were pregnant?" Abby was horrified.

"Five months, nearly six. I had to give birth to the baby. A boy. Stillborn. As soon as they discharged me, we left. Carl was at work. I had no idea what I was doing. Kim was five. We'd move around, he find us, beat us both to hell and we'd move on again. It just went on and on that way for years."

"Kim told me...what happened. When you ended up pregnant with Jimmy." Abby could not meet Leanne eyes.

"I know. She told me beforehand. There aren't secrets in this family – we can't afford them. It's okay; she wouldn't have told if it wasn't fine with me," Leanne assured her.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know if it was," Abby said.

"Well, it is. How much did she tell you?"

"Pretty much what you did – I saw the scar a couple of days ago."

"A couple of days ago?" Abby nodded. "Kim has wanted to tell you for awhile. You're the best friend she's ever had. Because of the way we lived you're the only real friend she's ever had."

"She doesn't like making attachments, does she?" It had taken her a really long time for Kim to even have a conversation with her. Once they had, things just progressed from there.

"It's easier. Attachments make it more painful to leave."

"I hope you never leave. I like having you here. I hated it before." Abby picked at her nails. Looking up, she saw Leanne looking at her in a way she had never been looked at before – with maternal affection.

Leanne came round and pulled Abby into a hug. "I got to thank you, kiddo. You may be the only reason I can get Kim to stay." Leanne let Abby go. "She learnt at her mother's knee, and she learnt it well, unfortunately, that when you get scared you run."

"Is that why she wanted to leave? Because of Jared?"

Leanne frowned. "I think so. She can't run because for once because I won't let her. So, she's trying to keep him at arm's length."

"Does she even know what she's doing?" Abby asked.

"Most definitely winging it at this point."

"Good, so it's not just that I'm slow, because I for one am completely confused by what's been going on." Abby rested her hands on Leanne's hands, keeping them on her shoulders, enjoying the human contact.

"No. If you're confused it's because you care enough about Kim to try to keep up. My head's been aching since Monday."

"Is Kim going to be alright?" Abby asked, concerned.

Leanne frowned. "I don't know. Before talking with Jared I was scared history would repeat itself. But, maybe Jared is the good kind of obsessed. The, 'I'll kill for her' rather than the, 'I'll kill her' kind that I got."

"For what it's worth, I think he really does care about her. How he can care so fiercely for her so quickly after not noticing her for months is a little beyond me, however," Abby frowned.

"Hmm. Am I the only one thinking we have nowhere near the whole story?" Leanne asked.

"For things to be this convoluted, there must be gaps in our knowledge," Abby confirmed.

"So...yes," Leanne said, raising an eyebrow. Abby nodded.

"You guys still talking about me?" Kim asked, coming back into the kitchen with a freshly washed and dressed Jimmy.

Leanne and Abby sprang apart, each attempting to look innocent. "No," Leanne said.

"Absolutely not," Abby said. "We were just having a normal, average, run of the mill breakfast conversation."

"Okay," Kim put Jimmy in the playpen. "Mum, I know you. I know when you're lying. Abby, even if I didn't know you, I would know you were lying – because you can't."

"I'm going upstairs to get dressed," Abby said, skirting around the table and the conversation.

Leanne grabbed a piece of toast.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Kim asked, leaning her weight on one hand on the back of a chair.

"You and Jared," Leanne said.

"Does your head hurt?" Kim asked.

"Oh yeah," Leanne said.

"Join the club," Kim said, rubbing her temples.

Half an hour later, Kim and Abby were being dropped off outside school.

"Okay, see you guys later," Leanne said.

"Bye, Mum," Kim said. She pressed her fingers to her lips, touched them to Jimmy's forehead then kissed her mother's cheek. "See you when you get home."

"Bye, Leanne, see you tonight," Abby said.

The two girls climbed out of the car and Leanne drove off. "Ready for another day of fun?" Abby asked.

Kim sighed. "Yes, I'm ready to be ignored by everyone that is not Jared Lane who is, for some reason, affecting gravity."

"Good. Then let's gooooo!" Abby slung an arm around Kim's shoulders and was so outrageously exuberant that they burst out laughing. She was still laughing when she walked in and found Jared sat there, looking out for her.

She was happy. She looked happy. The laughing kind of happy. She looked so beautiful – carefree. Jared liked her looking like this.

"Hey," he said as she sat down.

"Hi," Kim said back. She did not really know what to say – the last time she had seen him he had shouted at her that he loved her.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Jared said. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I have thought about how I would tell you – I had expected it to be a lot smoother, less..."

"Loud?" Kim suggested.

Jared blushed. "Well, yeah."

"It's okay. The first time a guy tells you he loves you is supposed to be memorable. Of course, you are supposed to say it back."

"You could say it back, then," Jared suggested, unable to keep the hope out of his eyes.

"Jared," Kim said his name slowly. Regretfully.

Jared hung his head for a moment before looking at her again. "Yeah, I didn't think that would really work."

"Jared, I'm sorry, but...I can't just say it. I have to mean it, and I don't think I can – not after four days."

"I understand." But he didn't. It was supposed to be the same for her as for him – she was meant to love him in return. Unconditionally. Instantaneously.

"Jared, I –"

"Kim, don't worry about it. It's cool." It killed him but he turned in his seat to pay attention to Mr Thompson who had just walked in.

Kim moved more slowly, unreasonably hurt by his attitude. After all, she had been the one to say she could not tell him she loved him.

The lesson crawled by for the both of them. The bell rang and they put their stuff away. Kim tried to move out of the room quickly but Jared caught her arm. "Kim."

"Jared, please, I really need to go." Kim tried to pull her arm out of his grip but try as she may she could not break it.

"Kim, can we just have a conversation. Please? This is starting to drive me crazy," Jared said.

Kim looked up at him. That scary as fuck magnetic attraction pulling her to him was still there. "This isn't the best time. Maybe after school?"

"Yes! Anywhere, just...there's so much I have to tell you," Jared said.

"Um, my mum's starting her new job today so she won't be home until half five. We could go to mine, if you like."

"Cool. I can give you a lift home," Jared said, buoyant once more.

"Okay," said Kim. Then stopped dead. "Oh, wait. Is it okay if we give Abby a lift home, too?"

"Yeah, of course," Jared said. He would have said yes if she had asked him to drive her to the moon.

"Okay. I'll see you afterschool, then," Kim said, moving off.

Jared's hand slid from her arm to her hand. "I'll walk you. Since we've got the class together." He smiled broadly.

Kim looked down at their joined hands before looking up at him again. He had looked at their hands, too, grinning widely. She smiled shyly and trying to ignore people as they watched the impossible-to-miss Jared walk by with the girl no one was quite sure they had seen before.

He did this all day, walking her to all her classes, whether he had them with her or not, holding her hand. Finally, he felt like they were getting somewhere near resembling a couple.

At the end of the day, Paul decided to give Jared his bag and run home, one bus ride with his new height having been more than enough for his legs. Jared drove Kim and Abby home. Abby disappeared upstairs pretty quickly leaving Kim and Jared sitting at either end of the sofa. Given the size of the sofa, and of Jared, they still ended up with their knees touching.

"So..." Kim said, not sure how to begin this.

"I have so much to tell you, Kim," Jared said again. "There's a lot you need to know." He took her hand. "I know none of this makes sense to you right now, but I'm hoping it will by the end."

"Okay." Kim leaned by into the cushions. She started to stroke the lines on his palm, making it very difficult for him to concentrate.

"Right, okay." Jared shifted so he was facing her. "I know this sounds insane, it sounds impossible and crazy, but the honest to God truth is...I'm a shape shifter."

Kim raised an eyebrow. "A shape shifter."

"It really is true. I can turn into a wolf."

"A wolf."

"Yes."

"I see."

"This thing between you and me, it's called imprinting."

"Imprinting."

"Yes. It's like this true love forever thing that happens when a wolf meets his mate."

"His mate."

Jared winced. Maybe 'mate' had not been the right word to use. "Imprinting is this impulsive, can't be denied, must be together feeling. It wasn't a choice - I was drawn to you. Pretty literally, actually."

"So, that's why you didn't see me before but you do now. Because of the imprinting thing? Because some force _made _you look at me," Kim surmised. She didn't sound impressed.

It seemed to Jared that the conversation was not going in the direction he wanted it to. "Yes. It was like the earth shifted, gravity wasn't holding me here anymore. The only reason I exist is because of, and for, you."

"So, let me get this straight." Kim dropped his hand; despite his boiling temperature, his hand felt cold without her touch. "You had no choice. You had to be with me because something turned your world upside down and _I _am the only reason you are here anymore."

"Yes," Jared said, more slowly.

"I see. So, you don't really love me."

"What! No! Of course I love you!" Jared yelped.

"No, you don't," Kim said, shifting as far away from him as she could on the tiny sofa, crossing her legs the other way, away from him. "You didn't have a choice, you said it yourself."

"I didn't mean it as a bad thing," Jared protested.

"But you meant it. You don't love me; you have no control over how you feel."

"No one in love has any control how they feel! For some people it's instant. For some it takes time. For fuck's sake, it took my parents two years to be able to be in the same damn room without wanting to kill each other! Love is never a decision," Jared frowned.

"Wow, I feel so great that you've gone from not knowing I exist to being obsessed with me because you have to be!" Kim said, standing up.

"Kim," Jared stood up and tried to take her hand but she snatched it away.

"Leave, Jared, now."

"Goddamn it, Kim, not again," Jared said. "You can't keep chucking me out of your house!"

"It's my house, so actually, yes, I can."

"Kim –"

"Stop saying my fucking name, I hate it!" Kim yelled. "Get out! Now!" She pointed in the direction of the door.

Jared took at step towards her but she backed away holding up her hands. "No, stay away from me."

"Kim, it's me, I'm not going to hurt you." Jared walked towards her, keeping his pace slow.

"How can you say that? You're a werewolf for fuck's sake!"

"I'm still me," Jared tried lamely.

"I can't handle this," Kim said. "I've got enough going on; I can't deal with your emotionally needy, freaky crap as well."

Jared stopped trying to reach for her. "'Emotionally needy, freaky crap,'" he repeated in a monotone. He kept his face blank, for once resembling Sam in his calm. "Right. I guess I'll see you later, then." He picked up his bag and stalked out of the room, leaving Kim shaking in the middle of the living room.

At first she had thought Jared was joking, but then he had gone on about...imprinting? ...and she had realised he thought it was all true. He really thought that he was a shape shifter, and that they were meant for each other. It was the same fucking destiny crap her father had tried to pull over her mother.

Kim sank onto the sofa and stayed there until Abby came downstairs.

"Kim?" Abby rushed over to the unresponsive girl and put her arm around her friend. "Kim, what happened?"

"Jared...he's...crazy," Kim said shaking her head. "He was saying all this weird stuff. I think those drugs really messed up his brain. It wasn't normal."

"What was he saying?" Abby said.

"He was saying that we were in love! That he had _imprinted _and I was the reason for him being here!" Kim looked at Abby, fear in her eyes. "Abby, he told me he was a _werewolf."_

"Okaaay, that's majorly freaky," Abby said.

"I'm just glad that it's Friday and I don't have to see him for two days," Kim said, crossing her arms over Abby's to hug herself.

"What are you going to do now?" Abby asked.

"I don't know. Moving isn't an option. Not until your dad is out of rehab. I don't know how to deal with this."

"We'll find a way, Kim. You, me, your mum, we'll figure it out. Promise."

Kim nodded and leant against Abby who wrapped her arms tighter around the other girl.

It was Sunday. Jared had not moved from his bed since coming home on Friday and collapsing there. The only change had been whether he was awake or asleep.

"Jared." It was Tally. Again. "Jared. You've been in here nearly two days. You need to get out. You need to eat. With your metabolism and body temperature, you can't afford not to eat for this long. It's dangerous for your health."

"Yeah, Mum, sure." It was the same response he had given every time she had spoken to him so far, no matter what she had said.

"Fine, you leave me no choice." Tally left the room, came back with a bucket full of ice cold water and chucked it over her son.

Jared leapt up, yelling. It was the most responsive he had been all weekend. "Mum! What the fuck!"

"Watch your language with me, boy. Now, get washed, get dressed and get your backside downstairs." She left the room.

Jared looked down at his soppy wet self and the drenched bed. Neither looked remotely appealing. Stripping off both himself and the bed, he dumped the clothes in the hamper and stepped into his shower.

Twenty minutes later, with clean body and clothes, Jared walked into the kitchen where his mother had laid the table with a huge dish of pasta with a rich, creamy carbonara sauce. She piled his plate high, poured the sauce all over it, added salad and cold cuts of meat and put it in front of Jared. "You're going to eat all of this. No arguing."

Jared found he really did not want to argue. His mother's cooking was amazing and while it may not fix a thoroughly broken heart, it did make the owner strong enough to think about dealing with it.

Jared tucked in, his mum sitting with him, smiling at her son as he polished off all the food.

"So, what happened this time?" his mother asked gently when he was finished.

Jared pushed his plate away to fold his arms on the table in front of him. "I told her the truth, she kicked me out."

"That seems to be becoming a habit."

"What if she just doesn't feel the same way? I mean, even Emily couldn't hold off forever, but Kim...she blows hot, she blows cold. She blows me right out of the door, leaving me on my ass wondering what they hell I said wrong this time."

"Maybe she needs to do the talking next time," Tally said.

"Let her be the strong, talking one, huh? I love you guys, Mum, I do, but I got to ask – are you guys just talking out of your ass?"

"In this situation, yes." Tally gave him a wry smile. "Sorry, sweetheart, but no one told us what to do when our shape shifting son comes home having imprinted and being completely in love with a girl who clearly doesn't want in."

Jared put his head in his hands. "This is just too fucking difficult, Mum. I need her, I don't have her and every moment I'm without her I feel like I'm going insane. Everything is slipping through my fingers."

"Then maybe you should let it go and grab a new handful," Tally said.

"That makes no sense what so ever," Jared said.

"It will by the end," Tally assured him. "Come on, you and me are going for a walk down the beach. Nothing clears your head like a walk."

"Mum."

"Don't 'Mum' me just get your shoes on."

It was just the two of them walking. George was visiting Jared's uncle. They did not speak, just trudged across the multi-coloured stones, listening to the waves crashing on the shore. Jared was only in cut-offs, a T-shirt and sneakers. Tally was protected against the cold with a woolly jumper and a coat. Luckily, it was not raining.

The beach was almost completely deserted, with only a small group of people at the other end of the beach. Until Sam and Paul met them. Jared looked over at Tally, who shrugged. "What? I didn't know what else to do. It's your pack, Jared, they need to be here. They _want_ to be here for you."

Jared sighed. "Fine." Sam and Paul caught up with them and Jared filled them in on everything that happened between him and Kim. Paul was a little confused. Sam was completely freaked out though he hid it well – imprinting was not meant to happen this way.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore, okay?" Jared said. He started walking again, the other three having no option but to trail after him. He walked and walked, not heeding where the hell he was going. He did not even realise when he was no longer just walking and was instead being led by that tug from the pit of his belly. That tug that was so much a part of him now he could not remember what it was like not to feel it. He had not felt whole, that was all he knew. How could he have? Without her.

"Gah!" There was a noise and Jared's hearing picked up the sound of stone hitting stone. Looking up, he saw Kim with her family. Jimmy was picking up stones, only to throw them again, crowing with delight at the clanging sound it made. Kim, Abby and Leanne were sitting down on a towel, watching the little boy.

He was still about thirty feet away from them. He could leave. But he didn't want to. He hadn't seen Kim in two days. Now she was right in front of him and he needed her so badly.

Kim looked up, she had to. Her gut told her he was here. And he was. Thirty feet away, looking at her like he was a drowning man and she was the only thing that could save him.

Next to him, Leanne felt Kim stiffen, her attention elsewhere. Following Kim's gaze Leanne also saw Jared. "Jimmy, come here!" she called urgently. The little boy came over, confused by the tone of his mother's that he had rarely heard. Leanne stood up, getting the girls to their feet. When Jimmy reached them, Leanne swooped him up while Abby got the towel and folded it over her arm. They started to leave but Kim was rooted to the spot, unable to look away from Jared.

"Jared, come on," he heard his mother's voice, felt his brothers as they tried to pull him away. But no, he could not go. She was here, what were they doing? Why were they trying to make him leave her?

Leanne was coming over; Jimmy now in Abby's arms. She stormed over to Jared and slapped him around the face.

Tally put herself in between her son and his love's mother. "Don't hit my son," she said her voice deadly calm.

"Keep your son away from my daughter! He comes near her again and I'll do a hell of a lot more than hit him," Leanne promised.

"No, you won't," Tally said, stepping closer to Leanne until they were nose to nose.

Leanne did not back up – she got mean. "I will. Get in my way, and I'll beat him _with_ you, understand?" Leanne spun on her heel and stalked towards her children.

"Come on, let's go," the werewolves heard Leanne say.

"Mum," Kim began to protest. "I don't want to go."

"Kim, please, I know you're upset. Don't worry; I won't let him hurt you." Leanne pulled her daughter away. Kim looked over her shoulder until the pace forced her to look where she was going.

"Guess it's not so easy for her to be apart from you either," Paul said, looking after the four.

"Then why is she the one pushing me away," Jared said sadly.

"Come on," Tally said, putting her hand on Jared's chest. "Let's go. Jared, come _on_." With difficulty, the three of them pulled him away.

_As you guys have probably notice, I've been making the chapters longer. Let me know if you prefer them longer or shorter and I'll take your advice – you're the ones reading this story after all!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Dude! We broke a hundred reviews! You guys are awesome! And, in keeping with our little deal, I'm updating. The next day. Wow, my days feel really long right now, it doesn't feel like yesterday that I updated!_

_So, most people went for the longer chapters options so they will remain around this length._

_I get what some were saying about it being clique that Kim would resist Jared but I couldn't in all conscious write a character that had an abusive, controlling father jump onboard with the imprinting thing. It will happen – and she will be really grateful for it, but she has to get to know and trust Jared first. _

_Even though it's a Jared/Kim story, this chapter is more about Sam than anyone – you guys need to know what kind of situations the characters are in and honestly, this just kind of came out but I should of like it. And it takes time away Jared/Kim angst – honestly, I'm with you; they need to get together already but they're being stubborn little buggers!_

Chapter Fifteen

Jared sat on the sofa. He wanted to cry, he really did. It was too hard. It was too much. He did not care anymore. He wanted Kim and nothing would be okay until he had her.

Nothing else mattered to him. Embry joined the pack at the beginning of December and Jared did not even care about the ramifications of what it meant. Sam was freaking out about who was Embry's father, one of the candidates being his own long absentee father, and he was getting nothing from Jared.

"Paul, you go with Embry tonight, I need to talk to Jared," Sam growled.

Sam usually went with Embry since he was the newest pack member.

"You sure the kid's ready?" Paul asked. Embry would remain 'kid' to him until he proved himself to the pack (aka Paul), as would any other that turned and became shape-shifters.

"Embry knows the score," Sam said. "And he's got a good head on his shoulders – should balance out that hot one you've got."

"I am exceedingly handsome, aren't I?" Paul said, in a rare good mood.

"Just get Embry and get going, pretty boy," Sam said, pushing Paul towards the door.

"Uh, Sam?" Paul stopped just short of the door.

Sam turned his head to look at Paul who was uncharacteristically serious-looking. "What?"

"Jared...Jay is pretty messed up right now. Just...go easy? For the rest of us," Paul shrugged as though it was of no importance, masking the momentarily obvious love for his brothers. "It's no fun being in Jared's head when he's whining."

Sam gave a small half smile. "Yeah, sure. But I've got to talk to him, Paul, he's weakening the pack. This isn't the environment I wanted Embry to join into."

Paul nodded. "So, Embry could be your little-"

"Later, Paul," Sam said, dismissing the conversation that had been going around his head ever since a fourth, completely freaking out voice had joined the pack mentality. "Just...later."

"Okay, see ya, Alpha-dude," Paul said, breaking into a run before he hit the end of the garden. He vaulted over the wall and disappeared to tell Embry about tonight's change in line-up.

Sam rested his considerable bulk against the wall and closed his eyes. It was difficult keeping his feelings to himself when he was in his wolf form, but he owed it to his brothers. One of whom might be blood.

"Hey there, handsome." Soft hands rested on his arms.

Sam opened his eyes to see Emily. Some of the responsibility came off his shoulders and the bands around his heart loosened a little. He could breath again. "Hey there, yourself," he said softly.

Emily reached up to smooth her hand over his cheek, from temple to chin. "Tell me what's wrong, Sam. Let me help."

Sam sighed and pushed off the wall, walking into the living room to sit down so that his girlfriend could sit next to him. "I don't know. Embry, I guess. I had hoped that since the Cullens moved away that no more would have to turn. But now, it's been nearly three months, why is Embry turning now? How many more will turn? Maybe it's more than just proximity to vampires that caused the gene to activate. Or many there are more vampires, closer than we thought? Then how haven't we found them? How can I protect the ones I love – you, my mom, my brothers – from a threat I can't even _see_?" The calm he maintained for his pack was long gone and Sam put his head in his hands.

Emily rubbed soothing circles into his back. "Maybe Embry wasn't old enough until now. Maybe the gene _was _activated in all of them. But, honey, they still have to mature before they turn. Embry's mom says he's always grown like a weed but he's been filling out and shooting up since the summer. And I saw Jacob Black and Quil the Younger today; both boys are well over six feet. We're just going to have to wait to see how many turn. So, there probably aren't any more vampires in the area. You are protecting the ones you love, Sam, as best you can. You find any threat and deal with it. I know you; you won't rest until this is over. Which means those boys won't rest. Which means Embry going to be getting grounded a lot more." Emily smiled affectionately at her lover when he lifted his head to look at her.

"I feel bad about that, but Embry wants his mom safe more than he wants her to be happy with her; he won't tell her the truth," Sam said.

"Is that the only thing that's bothering you?" Emily asked.

"Jared's still depressed about the lack of relationship with Kim," Sam said. "He's hurting real bad and I'm useless in helping him. He's barely making it to school right now. If I don't sort him out, he's going to get kicked out. Tally and George asked me to talk to him – nothing they say is getting through anymore."

"Is that why you've had the sudden urge to put Paul with the 'newbie' as he says," Emily said with a smile.

"Embry will do just fine, like we all did when we started," Sam said sharply. Protectively.

"I know, honey, I know," Emily said, still rubbing those circles into Sam's back. "But is Jared the only brother making you worry right now?"

"Paul's always going to be a firecracker," Sam said. "I've learnt to live with it."

"Uh uh," Emily said, shaking her head. "Wrong one, try again."

"Em," Sam said wearily.

"Samuel Uley, you don't have to talk to your pack about this, but you do have to talk to me," Emily said, refusing to budge. "Your mom's worried about you. This has got to be difficult for you. It is for her."

Sam leant back against the sofa, taking the hand that had been rubbing the sore muscles of his back. "I think the Calls have got it worse than we do. The pack all knows it means that Embry's father was one of the tribe. And if he's a Protector it means there's only one of three men it could be. So, the million dollar question is, who has a half-brother they never knew about, me, Quil, or Jacob?"

"It would be easier if it was you," Emily said. "Joshua was never around for you. He left about a year before Sandy Call moved to La Push when she was pregnant. I don't think that Billy Black or Leo Aetera would cheat on their wives. Billy loved Sarah so much. And Leo is still crazy about Miranda."

Sam nodded. "I know. But that leaves Joshua. My mom..." Sam let out a painful groan, unable to finish the thought of how it would hurt the woman who raised him singlehandedly. The woman who had lost so much.

"Who do you want it to be?" Emily asked the question Sam did not dare ask himself.

He shrugged. "I don't know. If Embry's my little brother it would hurt my mom in more ways than I can imagine. She always wanted more kids but Joshua had left before they could have any. But if he's Jacob's brother then that means Billy cheated on Jacob's mom while she was still alive, while she was pregnant with Jacob. Jacob would never be able to forgive him. I don't think Quil would forgive his father either, which wouldn't help their relationship since Leo already thinks Quil is a trouble-maker."

"He's going to love it when Quil becomes one of the pack, then," Emily said wryly.

"He says at least then Quil with have an excuse for his behaviour at school, right now he's just "acting out". Old Quil thinks his grandson is merely bored and needs something more than the life he's got now." Sam ran his hands through the bristles covering his scalp. "He's going to have plenty on his plate if he changes."

"And neither he nor Jacob is aware of the situation?" Emily asked, pulling the conversation back on point.

Sam shook his head. "Which just makes everything so bloody easy."

"Sounds like you want Embry to be _your_ brother," Emily observed.

"I always wanted a sibling, a brother, growing up," Sam said quietly. "I saw Jared and Johnny, and I wanted that. Even when their parents were working, they had each other. Some to have their back. It would have been great having a brother, even a younger one – I would have looked out for him. Someone to be with when Mom was working." Which she had done. All the time so that Sam wanted for nothing growing up.

"But?"

"But," Sam looked down at his hands. "I look at Embry, and there's...nothing. No feeling, no sudden knowledge that he's my blood. I feel the same for him as I do for Paul and Jared. He's a good kid and he's been dealing with all this crap on top of the shape-shifter stuff – the Jared/Kim fiasco, and Paul's hazing, and me drilling him to get him ready for something none of us know is even coming for us. I have come to care for him like a brother. But not _my _brother. I don't...maybe if I knew for sure...if I could just _find out!"_

Sam pushed himself off the sofa and away from Emily as the anger built and made his form shake.

Emily recognised the signs and let him go. "I'll see you later," she said as Sam left. "I love you," she called after him.

But Sam only nodded as he ran across the garden and over the fence.

At Jared's, Sam pounded on the door. Tally let him in and stepped back as Sam bounded up the stairs with a face like thunder.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing Jared by the collar and hauling him down the stairs, and Sam tossed the rags at Tally while shoving Jared out of the back door and over the fence into the woods that crept up to the back of the house.

"What's your problem?" Jared demanded, stepping away from Sam so he could look him in the face.

Sam stepped close until his face was inches from Jared and he was all Jared could see. "I have a lot of problems right now, Jared," Sam said. "And one of the biggest ones is _you. _I get it that it's not going the way you want it to with Kim, and I'm sorry for that, I genuinely am. I _do _understand. Jared, we will help you with this, but you need to help us. There are too few of us to lose anyone and you're weakening the pack. We're a collective, Jay, and the pain of one is the pain of all."

"So _I'm_ the weak link, huh?" Jared said, anger casting a red shade over his thoughts. "_I'm_ the one fucking up, huh? What about you, _Sam_? You're the one going angsty over a kid you don't even know is your brother! You're just as fucked up as me so don't pretend otherwise."

"I'm your brother, Jay-"

"YOU'RE NOT MY FUCKING BROTHER!" Jared roared. "YOU ARE _NOTHING _COMPARED TO JOHNNY, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? _NOTHING!"_

"Okay," Sam said calmly, backing up for Jared a little. "I didn't mean it like that, Jared. I'm worried for you. But I've got to worry about all of you. I'm the Alpha, Jared, that's my job. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be doing it right."

"So are you going to step aside when Jacob turns?" Jared asked.

Sam was caught off-guard by the unexpected topic. "Yeah, I suppose so. I mean, it's up to Jacob. It's his birthright, if he wants it, it's his."

"What if that's not what what's best for the pack?" Jared asked. "Would you fight him for it? If you thought he wasn't going to protect us like you do?"

"Jared, where is this coming from?" Sam asked. "Jacob will do fine. If he wants to step up then I'll be his second and he'll be a good Alpha. If he doesn't want to then I'll still be Alpha. Either way, the pack's got your six, Jared. Have you got ours?"

Simple enough question. A multitude of answers. But only one of them mattered right now. Jared nodded. "Yeah, I got your six."

"Alright, then," Sam said. "You're patrolling with me tonight – Paul is with Embry-"

"Makes you wonder which one is doing the babysitting," Jared muttered.

Sam smiled. "Yeah, well, Embry's doing fine – he can handle Paul now. And you and me need to talk. About Kim."

Jared sighed, rubbing his chest at the sound of her name. Sam did not think he was even aware of the action.

"Your parents' say nothing they say is helping: you're still miserable."

Jared shrugged. "No school because of Winter Vacation, right? No school, no Kim. No chance of seeing her. No reason to see her apart from the bleeding hole I used to call a heart."

Sam laid a comfortingly heavy hand on his brother's shoulder. "Can't you go over there?"

Jared shook his head. "I told her everything. She doesn't want anything to do with me. She said she can't handle it and everything else."

"What's 'everything else'?" Sam asked, wondering if there was an in for Jared in all of the stuff Kim had going on.

Jared shrugged. "I don't know. But I got a really bad feeling, Sam. Really bad. Like something awful is about to happen and I've got no way of preventing it."

"Well, we'll help you," Sam said.

"That's just it," Jared said, looking at Sam with fear in his deep brown eyes. "It's not going to happen to me. Something's going to happen with Kim."

There was a thud. Kim ran downstairs to find Leanne unconscious on the kitchen floor. "Mum!" she screamed. Upstairs, Abby dropped the toy she was waving for Jimmy's amusement and sprinted downstairs.

She found Kim on the floor cradling her mother, tears streaking down her face. "Oh my god." Abby grabbed the phone and called for an ambulance.

Twenty minutes later they were speeding after the ambulance to the hospital.

Half an hour later, Kim was holding her baby brother being told they were running tests to find out what was wrong with her mother.

Twenty-four hours later, the doctor came to tell Kim they still did not know what was wrong. Abby began to cry as Kim sat there mutely, holding Jimmy, unable to process what was happening.

"You need to admit your mother," the doctor said. "Is there anyone else at home? An adult?"

"No," Kim said, quietly, detached. "She's a single parent. She's all we have."

The doctor smiled gently, trying to be comforting as he led them to reception. The receptionist gave Kim a pile of forms to fill out. Abby took Jimmy was watched as Kim filled in the forms.

"Louise Bailey? Whose that?"

"My mum. Officially, anyway."

"So, Kim Lincoln isn't your real name?" Abby asked.

"No. Kim's my middle name. Lincoln is my maternal grandmother's maiden name," Kim said, not stopping filling out the forms.

"So, what is your real name?"

"The name on my birth certificate is Jacqueline Kimberley Bailey, but it's been years since I used it."

"How many different names have you had?"

Kim shrugged. "One a year since I was eight."

"That's a lot."

"It's worth it to be safe, for however long it takes my father to find us."

"How many times has he found you?" asked Abby, jiggling her knees to bounce Jimmy in an effort to distract him from grabbing Kim's pen.

"Five or six. We used to move around every two months or so. It took him a while to find us but he always did eventually. He's left his mark every time, though," Kim said darkly.

This Abby knew. She had only lived with Kim for nearly two months now but she had seen the scars – one bathroom between four meant mishaps happened; privacy was never guaranteed. The one on Kim's side was the worst to see but was by no means the only one she had. Some were so old they were beginning to fade, meaning that Kim had to have been barely older than Jimmy when she got them. And Abby had seen the tattoo. Kim said it had been a sixteenth birthday present.

She knew Leanne – or Louise – had similar scars, on a larger scale, but no such tattoo.

"What do we do now?" Abby asked. It was late Sunday evening. Leanne had been admitted an hour ago and there was nothing more the girls could do – Leanne was not even awake yet.

"Go home, I guess," Kim said. She piled everyone into the car and drove them home.

Acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary, Kim got dinner together, gave Jimmy his bath and put him to bed. For the first time since she had found her mother on the floor, Kim sat down. The last thirty one hours came crashing down on her and she began to panic.

"Abby, I've got to go out, okay? I'll be back...sometime," Kim said, taking the car keys.

"Kim, no, we should be together right now," Abby said, grabbing Kim's arms.

"I can't be here!" Kim half-yelled. She ripped herself out of Abby's hold and ran to the car. She needed to drive. She needed out.

She had no idea where she was going. She drove around La Push for an hour before she stopped. She leant back in the seat, watching the raindrops pour down the windscreen until her tears blurred the picture too badly. Wiping her eyes, she looked to see where she was.

She was outside Jared's house. Over the last month, she and Jared had barely spoken, Jared becoming more and more withdrawn and ill-looking. She had been round once. Jared had been off ill and the entire school had seemed to conspire against her. Mr Thompson gave her the task of giving Jared his assignments for the Winter Vacation five days ago. No excuses. She had given it to his mother and left quickly, before Tally could get some of the worry off her chest by laying into Kim. She had looked up at the wrong moment to see Jared looking out of his bedroom window at the front of the house, sadness etched into every line on his face. She had looked away but had felt his eyes on her the whole way back to the car.

She was still trying to fight this love that she felt for Jared – and it was love. She had long since had to accept that. But she couldn't love him as much as she did. She could not. This constant ache like she was ripping out her own heart was just the product of too many romance novels when she had gone through that stage at fifteen.

She had told herself this over and over. Now, she did not care. She wanted Jared's strong arms around her. She knew she did not deserve it after how she had treated him over the last month since he had told her everything, but she just could not care about anything else. She could not deal with this and she needed the one person who she could be weak around.

She didn't have a coat and got soaked in the short distance between her car and his front door. By the time she knocked on the door, she was shivering. The door opened and it was Jared standing there, towering above her but looking so vulnerable. His eyes were dead and he was too thin – his face was gaunt and the muscles were too obvious under his lacklustre skin.

"Hi," she said lamely.

"Kim?" he asked, shaking his head as though he could not believe she was standing there.

"Yeah, it's me. I know that I shouldn't be here asking this but can I come in? It's frigging freezing out here." She rubbed her arms but it did nothing to warm her.

"Yeah, sure." Jared was moving slowly as though through treacle. He moved to the side and Kim walked into his house.

"Where are your parents?" Kim asked.

"They went out of town for the week – second honeymoon. Be back in a couple of days." Tally had not wanted to go but it was not like it would make any difference to Jared whether they were there or not.

"That's nice."

"Yeah." Jared rubbed his forehead. "Are you really here? I'm mean, I've had this dream a lot in the last month."

"No, it's really me, really here."

"Oh. Why?" Jared asked. "I thought you hated me."

Kim shook her head. "I never hated you, Jared."

"Then why...?"

"Because you scared the hell out of me with everything you told me. And I was upset that you didn't love me the way I love you," Kim said.

Jared started to speak. Then he stopped when he realised what she had said. "You love me?"

"Yeah," Kim said, really, really cold now. Her lips were turning blue and her fingers were burning cold. "Don't ask me how because I don't know. But I needed to see you tonight."

"Why?"

"Because," Kim said. "I need you to hold me." With difficulty, she unfolded her arms from where they were clamped around her body and went over to him, wrapping her arms around his body, pressing her wet body against his dry one. His insane heat radiated into her, warming her up.

Jared just stood there, motionless for a moment. He had tensed up when she touched him and had made no motion to hold her. Kim realised she was clinging to him. Feeling rejected, Kim loosened her hold and was about to step away when Jared locked his arms around her.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this. Waiting for you," he said, his lips brushing her hair.

"I'm sorry I made you wait. If you knew what had happened to my family, why I'm like this, you'd understand. I hope you will." Kim mumbled into his chest. As usual, Jared was not wearing a shirt, and her fingers absently traced his spine. He was trying very, very hard to concentrate on what she was saying but unfortunately, a certain part of his anatomy of was getting very, very hard.

"I do want to understand, Kim, I really do," Jared said.

"I'm guessing from what pressing against my stomach that's not all you want to do," Kim smiled. Jared was shocked at the words coming out of sweet, shy Kim's mouth.

"Uh, sorry 'bout that. Like I said, I've been waiting for you for a really long time."

"Okay, then," Kim said, looking up at him.

"Okay, then, what?" Jared asked, not daring to hope what he was hoping for.

"Let's do it," Kim said. She smiled at the expression on his face. "Unless you don't want to..."

"My room's this way," Jared said, pulling her up the stairs.

"You sure you want to do this?" Jared asked.

"I've had a bad kind of day. I need this," Kim said, reaching up, her hand sliding round his neck, to kiss him.

"Kim," Jared said, hating himself for what he was about to say – Kim's lips were an inch away from his. "I don't want this to be a cheering you up thing. I want to be with you. I want out first time to mean something."

"Jared, I really, really need you, okay?" Kim tried to kiss him again.

"Then come here." Jared led her over to his bed and pulled her down to lie next to him. He wrapped on arm around, the other brushing the wet locks away from her face. He kissed her gently, turning her legs to jelly. His hand slid down to sneak under her top only to find the soaking material stuck to her clammy skin. "Kim, you must be freezing!"

"But you're pretty warm." Kim reached for him but Jared was pulling her back off the bed.

"Come on, you got to get out of those clothes." He was pulling the clothes off her as he shuffled her into the en suite bathroom. "You get in the shower, I'll find you some dry clothes."

Kim pulled off the rest of her clothes and stepped under the scalding spray.

A couple of minutes later, Jared came back into the bathroom. "Kim, I've put the clothes on the radiator."

"Okay, thanks." Kim opened the shower door and steam enveloped the room. Jared's mouth went dry. "You want to come in?"

"Hell yeah," Jared was out of his sweats so fast he may have ripped them off.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," he replied as he slid his arms around her slick body and pulled her close.

"Jared?"

"Yeah?"

"I really love you."

"I really love you, too, Kim."

_They did it – they're together! Kim is a bit like that, though – she goes on instinct so things can change pretty rapidly for her. _

_REVIEW! Please._


	15. Chapter 15

_Okay, so I thought I'd re-write this chapter. After your reviews, I realised you guys were kind of right, and I'm not explaining Kim's character very well. I still have that chapter but I like this one better. It's still not perfect, but Kim's a pretty imperfect person. I could have written it as the next chapter but I didn't like the first version. I'll put it up and let you guys decide. We get a bit more pack, Paul/Abby in this one._

Chapter Fifteen

Jared lay on his side, looking at Kim, tracing the outline of her lips with his fingertip. "You okay?"

Kim caught his hand and kissed it. "You're too good for me, you know that?"

Jared snorted. "How?"

Kim sat up, cradling his hand in both of hers. "You need to see me properly, Jared. Who I really am."

"And who is that?" Jared asked, turning slightly so he could lay more comfortably with her holding his hand.

"Selfish," Kim said. Jared opened his mouth to speak but Kim shook her head to silence him – she needed to say this. "I am, I know I am. I focus on my own family, my own problems so I can pretend I don't see everybody else's. And I know that this all came out of nowhere and I'm so sorry for that. You had me so scared because...because I saw you at the beginning of the year and I was attracted to you. And then you left and I was worried about you – and it annoyed me because I had no reason to worry about you, I didn't know you. And then you come back and I see you and this weird thing happens with the ground falling away and from then on it was like when I wasn't with you I wasn't _whole_ and I couldn't talk to anyone about it because my mum would think I was being like her at my age and I wasn't because I'm not stupid enough to get married and pregnant so young but I knew you wouldn't hurt me and I so wanted to lean on you because you'd make it all go away but that wasn't fair and what I did tonight wasn't fair and –"

Jared kissed her. He didn't know how else to get her to stop at ninety miles an hour. "Whoa, okay? Just whoa," he smiled. "Can we talk a bit slower? Because I'm getting dizzy trying to keep up."

Kim took a deep breath and let it out. She smiled back at him, and tugged on his hand. Jared looked a happy sort of confused but sat up. She put his arms around him. "I'm sorry we've all treated you so badly. My mum's rather like me. We do stupid things and we're reckless, and we lash out when we're scared." Kim pulled back and stroked his cheek where her mum had hit him. "She didn't mean it. And she shouldn't have done it. She will apologise, to you, to your mum. We do things and then regret them straight away. Carl...no, it doesn't start with him. My mum is an Army brat. Well, armed forces brat. Her dad was an American, a fighter pilot in the Air Force and a good man. He was part of an exchange between American and British pilots. While he was there, he meant my grandmother, and fell in love with her, so they had a very long distance relationship for two years until my grandfather's contract was up and he left the Air Force, and America, to move to England to be with my grandmother. Jacqueline and Jason Connweller were very, very happy together, and had a baby girl, who name was Bethany Leanne Connweller. But, when she was sixteen, Leanne lost her mother. She was murdered in a parking lot for the twenty-five pounds and forty-six pennies in her purse. So Jason moved his daughter to America where they stayed close to Jason's parents, who loved their granddaughter very much. But then she met a boy at school, Carl Bailey, a boy who loved her and convinced her to run away with him. Soon she was pregnant, and soon he began to hit her. Leanne's father had taught her how to defend herself, but against Carl she couldn't fight; she couldn't even raise a fist to defend herself. She had her baby, a daughter, whom she named Jacqueline after her beloved mother, and Kimberley, after the grandmother that had given her and her father a home after her mother died."

"So, your mum hasn't seen her family since she ran away with your father?" Jared asked.

Kim shook her head, the mass of black hair cascading over her shoulders with the motion. "Even after she left him, she didn't go back. I think part of her didn't want to bring a man like Carl to their doorstep, and the other part of her was ashamed she had let herself be taken over by a man like him."

"They wouldn't have turned her or her baby away," Jared said, stroking away the hair on her face. "Not their own flesh and blood."

"I wanted to meet them but she wouldn't go," Kim said. "She wasn't pregnant with Jimmy and wouldn't leave the house anyway. She was so scared. But she got through it; she's the toughest person I know, my mum."

"Yeah," Jared said, thinking of his own mother, "it's pretty incredible what they can do."

"What did your mother get through?" Kim asked.

Jared looked away. "Maybe...I don't really want to talk about it."

"Please?" Kim asked, gently taking his chin and turning his face towards her. "We have to talk about you to, if we're going to be together. Though, I think we should date before we have a relationship."

It managed to get a smile out of him, even if it was small. Jared wrapped his arms tighter around her, pulling to sit in between his legs, her back against his chest and her head under his chin. "My mum survived losing a child," she said softly. He felt Kim gasp against him but was glad she didn't speak. If he had to get through this, he had to do it all at once. "Johnny," his voice cracked, "Johnny was five years older than me. My big brother. I thought the world revolved around him, he was strong and brave and loved me more than anything – he told me so. He told me he would do anything to protect me, and he did. I can't count the number of fights he started because someone pick on me. I was a scrawny little kid, weird-looking, wouldn't say boo to a goose."

Kim looked up at him with a amused glint in her eyes. "I don't believe that," she said.

"It's true, I can show you," Jared said. He leaned around her, pulling a little photo album out of the drawer in the bedside table. It was worn but dusty, as though he had spent long days going over and over it before shutting it away for good. He opened the book and stared at the first picture with immeasurable sadness. Jared leaned back, tucking Kim back into his body, and showed her the picture. A dark-haired little boy with a bundle wrapped in a blue blanket in his arms; he looked down at the baby, who hand was reaching for his face, with loving fascination. "Me and Johnny," Jared said huskily, "the day I was brought me home from the hospital." Kim gently took the book from his hands and started to look over the pictures slowly, letting Jared talk about each of them. "My second birthday; apparently, toddler-Paul tried to steal my piece of birthday cake, so Johnny pushed him over, cutting his leg open. Paul actually cried, and my brother was grounded for two weeks...Johnny teaching me how to throw a baseball. I was rubbish at it but he didn't give up...that's me, age eight. Told you I was an ugly little thing."

It was true that Jared at that eight couldn't be called 'cute' per se. His features were too large for his face, the kind that looked strange at a child and stunning as an adult. He had huge feet on spindly little legs, indicating that he would have been very tall even without the shape shifter gene kicking in.

"You weren't ugly," Kim said loyally. "You were...a late bloomer."

Jared's chest rumbled with a gentle laugh. "I bet you were a sweet-looking kid."

"I don't know – we don't have any pictures," Kim said.

"None?" Jared asked surprised.

Kim shook her head. "We left all that sort of stuff behind when we left Carl. I never wanted my picture taken anyway but I think my mum's got a couple somewhere."

"I'll have to find them," Jared decided.

"No!"

"It's only fair – you've seen my baby pictures, I want to see yours," Jared said, kissing her head.

Kim huffed. "Maybe. Maybe Carl will bring them with him."

Jared tensed. "Carl? Why would he be here?"

"Because we used our real names to admit my mum into hospital, and that's how he always finds us," Kim said sadly. Her eyes lost focus as she thought of her mum, lying all alone in a hospital bed.

"Jesus, Kim! You should have told me! Is that why you're here?" Jared took her by the shoulders and pulled her around to face him. "Kim, what is going on?"

"No! I came here because I wanted to see you!" she cried. "I wasn't strong enough to be away from you anymore! I came here to tell you I want to be with you, if you would have me! I hate myself for what I did to you!"

"But what is all this about your father?" Jared asked.

"Carl is a cop – he can find us when we can use our real names. My mum lost consciousness today, or rather, yesterday. We took her to hospital but they don't know what's wrong. They said it could be...cancer." She whispered the last word as though terrified to say it out loud.

"Kim, I'm so sorry, sweetheart." Jared pulled her close, letting her lean on him like she needed to.

Kim wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry you lost your brother, Jared. I can't imagine how much it hurt."

"I hope you never do," whispered Jared. "Pain like that. Like someone tore apart the world and your heart with it." He tucked his head into the curve where her shoulder met her neck. "I do anything to have one more day with him."

Kim gently rocked him back and forth, running her fingers through what was left of his hair. She thought of how she would feel if someone took Jimmy away from her forever, and her heart wept for the man she loved. And she did love him, so much. He had fallen so much more in love with him these last few hours, his strength, his capacity for love. His forgiveness.

"How did I get lucky enough to have you?" she wondered out loud.

Jared gave a low chuckle. "We've come a long way from 'get out of my house'."

"Yeah," Kim grimaced as she pulled back to look him in the eye. "I'm going to be apologising for a while for being such a self-centred bitch, aren't I?"

"No," Jared shook his head. "I forgive you...for abusing me, then using me, then tempting me with your wet, naked body into a shower."

Kim punched him on the shoulder, grinning. "That really sounds like forgiveness there, Jay."

He tightened his arms around her so they were close again. "Okay," he dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. "How about this...Kim, I would very much like to draw a line under the last month and take you out on a date so we can get to know each other properly. Will you go out with me tomorrow night?"

Kim nibbled on her lip. "Will you come to the hospital first? To see my mum – she feels bad about how she acted with you."

"Okay." Jared kissed her again, this time on the lips. "I will come and see your mum – if she gives us permission for us to date without hitting me again."

"Did it hurt?" Kim asked worried.

Jared pulled a face. "Nothing short of a van can hurt, really. But Paul teasing you saying you got bitch-slapped by a hundred pound woman does begin to grate."

"Is he mad at her?" Kim asked. God, the whole pack was going to think they were a family of nutcases!

"Not really, he actually kind of likes her," Jared said frowning. "Says she reminds him of his own mum."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Kate's a blast! Just don't get on her bad side. Or put your feet up on her coffee table – she'll whack you with a spoon."

Kim laughed. "She sounds nice."

"She is. She's also about the only person in the world who can get Paul to smile – he really loves his mum. Would kill for her, even one of the pack if they tried to hurt her."

"But they wouldn't, would they?"

"Hell, no!" Jared said vehemently. "No way would we hurt one of our brothers like that! Just like none of them would hurt you, because I imprinted on you. It happened once, a long time ago, by accident, of course. The wolf lost it, and the pain crippled the entire pack; they just couldn't get passed it. Besides, hurting Emily is like wanting to hurt a fluffy bunny or something – she's just too sweet, no one could do it."

"And no one else has imprinted, yet?"

"Nope," Jared shook his head. "Just me and Sam. I thought for a moment, that Paul had...but, never mind."

"No, tell me," Kim urged.

"It's going to sound stupid, but, I thought Paul might have imprinted. I don't know on who, but being in his head is different these days. He has more...purpose than before, like he's doing this for more reasons than before, better reasons. I don't know. He hasn't told anyone and it's not something anyone wants to hide – it's the best feeling in the world."

"Unless the one you imprint on freaks out because she can't handle it," Kim said looking down.

"Kim, I don't blame you," Jared said softly.

"Because you can't! The others will, though!"

"I won't let them."

"Part of me wants them to," Kim said softly. "I deserve it."

"There's a lot going on tonight, babe," Jared said, kissing her forehead. "Let's call it a night on it all, okay? I'll take you home, you can get some sleep and we'll pretend to deal with all this in the morning."

Kim smiled at that and nodded. "Okay."

"Alright," Jared got off the bed and pulled her with him.

"Bugger!" she said, in that distinctly English tone that made Jared grin in amusement. "The radiator wasn't on so my stuff isn't dry."

Jared shrugged. "Go home in mine," he said, indicating the wife-beater and sweats that drowned Kim's much slighter frame.

"I can't do that!" Kim cried. "What will your neighbours think?"

"They'll think you turned up at ten o'clock at night and left at two." Jared shrugged nonchalantly. "They'll think we had fantastic, athletic sex."

"That is not funny, Jared! I'm serious!" She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

Since she barely made it to his bicep, this did make Jared laugh somewhat. "Well, you don't have too much of a choice here, darlin'," he drawled.

"Fine," Kim huffed. She plucked at the top she wore. "You are seriously huge, you know that?"

"I know," he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not what I meant," she said, throwing her socks at him. He let the small wet bundle hit him in the chest before catching them.

"I know. Werewolf gene, grew half a foot in a month. Had to buy all new clothes. I don't fit any of Johnny's stuff anymore," he said sadly. He had loved wearing his brother's clothes, the little pieces of Johnny he had left.

"Hey," Kim said, taking his hand and squeezing it. "I bet he's real proud of you."

He used her hold on him to pull her close. "I hope so," he said softly. "He would have loved being a wolf, it's such a rush."

"Do you guys really jump of that cliff?" Kim asked. "Because a hundred foot jump is like hitting concrete – it'll break you."

"Not us," Jared said. "We're tougher than humans."

"You're not human?" Kim asked, wrinkling her nose a bit.

"Does that bother you?"

"Well," she said with a delicate shrug. "I never thought I be into bestiality."

"It's more like necrophilic bestiality," Jared said thoughtfully, "since we're spirit warriors that turn into wolves."

"Oh, that gross!" Kim said, pushing him on the chest.

Jared laughed and took her hand, placing a kiss on her palm. Kim's grin softened into a tender smile and Jared could almost, almost see the love in her eyes. But he knew she wouldn't say the words, not for a while, until she was sure.

He was sure, and because of that, he would wait until she was ready to say it.

"So, you two have worked out your differences, I see," said Paul.

They turned to see him perched on the windowsill.

"Hey, Paul," Jared said.

"Hi, Paul," said Kim shyly.

"Stopped ripping out his heart, then, have you?" Paul asked her sharply.

"Paul, man, don't," Jared said.

"No, you can't be mad at her because of the imprinting B.S.," Paul said, looking at Jared briefly before turning back to Kim. "That doesn't mean the rest of us can't give her the hard time she deserves."

"Paul," Jared began, but Kim laid her hand on his chest over his heart.

"No, Jared, it's okay. It's what I wanted, remembered." She squared up to Paul. "Alright, I'm here, go for it."

"Where do I even begin?" Paul said, pushing off the windowsill to stand in front of her. He crossed his arms so the only thing at Kim's eye line was his rippling arm muscles. To her credit, she didn't flinched. Swallowed hard but still met his eyes. Tiny point in her favour, she wasn't a scaredy cat. "How about the month that almost put Jay in hospital, how about that?" Kim flinched now, as though the thought of Jared hurting hurt her. So it should. "How about him being so distracted he almost got himself killed?"

"What!" Kim spun to look at Jared.

"It was nothing," he told her.

"It was a vampire, Jay," Paul corrected. "One that would have taken you out if Embry hadn't been chomping at the bit to get in gear and taken him out before the leech got his arms around you."

"Jared, what is this?" Kim asked, scared.

"Some jumped up, leech," Jared said. "I let my guard down and got cornered. But it's okay, my pack were there and they had my back."

"And if we hadn't, you be dead," Paul went on mercilessly.

Kim paled, all the blood draining from her face.

_Goddamnit, _Paul thought. He meant to teach her a lesson, not give her a heart attack.

"Jared?" she said weakly, reaching for him. Tears made her eyes bright.

"I'm here," Jared said, pulling her into the warmth of his body. Kim buried her face in his chest, her arms as tight around him as they could be, her nails digging into the skin of his back as she clung to him. "Shush, baby, I'm here, I'm okay."

"You can't die," Kim said, her voice muffed by his chest, and thick with emotion. "You can't leave me. You have to stay, you have to be okay."

"I _am _okay," he assured her. "I'm always going to _be _okay. I trust this guys with my life."

"Kinda clingy for a feminist, isn't she?" Paul noted, looking distinctly unimpressed.

Apart from his eyes. Jared saw a clear wistful look there, as though he wanted his own imprint to hold.

"She's not a feminist," Jared said. "Give her a break – her mum's in hospital."

"Shit," Paul said, the news going straight to his chest, threatening to crush his lungs. He thought of how it would be if it was _his _mum in hospital. He doubted he would still be standing. "Wow, Kim, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I...fuck."

"Yeah," Kim said, pulling her face away from Jared and wiping her eyes. "That's pretty much where I am."

"Seems to be the way, doesn't it?" Paul said. "Someone's in hospital, someone ends up with their imprint, finally realising life's too short to pull away from the best thing that ever happened to you."

It was a surprisingly eloquent, and long, speech from Paul. Until he said, "please, spirits, don't let that happened every time. I couldn't fucking take it."

Jared and Kim laughed, Kim a little weakly as she got her equilibrium back – everyone seemed to be almost dying right now.

"Hey, well, you need anything," Paul said, a little uncomfortably, "just, well, let us know, okay? You're with Jay now so you're part of the pack, and the tribe, and we look after our own." He held out his hand.

"Thanks," Kim said, taking his hand and shaking it. She felt oddly moved by Paul's disjointed offer. "Thank you so much." Her emotions seemed to be too close to the surface right now and she was doing a lot of things she normally wouldn't rush into. _Fuck it, _she thought, hugging Paul, _it's not the dumbest thing I've ever done._

Paul was taken aback by the show of...affection or gratitude or whatever. But he patted her back awkwardly, glaring at Jared who was trying not to laugh. "Er, yeah, no problem, Kim." He let her go.

"We good?" Kim asked.

Paul looked at her. "We'll see. You're new to this, and clearly not normal so that's a good thing. But what you did to Jay was pretty crappy. So...you guys go for it and if it's okay, then we're okay. But if you hurt him, I'll kill ya."

"Deal," Kim said. Paul was straight forward, and said what he thought, whether people wanted to hear it or not. She liked that.

"No deal," Jared said, frowning at Paul. "You're not killing her, Paul!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Jay! It was a threat!" Paul said exasperated. "It's not like I'd actually kill her! Then you'd be a really whiny baby. Come on, let's go – Sam's waiting and Embry's going nuts again. I swear, it's like having a puppy, he's starting to piss me off."

"No, he isn't," Jared said. He knew Paul cared more about his brothers than he would ever admit to.

"Yeah, alright. But he is seriously messing with the image of the pack, being such an idiot. He frolics, Jared, you've seen, I've seen – he _frolics!"_

"He's new."

"It's embarrassing."

"Be nice."

"I'm never nice."

"Try."

"No."

"Bugger off out of my room then so I can say goodbye."

"Saying it ain't what you want to do."

"Well, really get lost then."

"Fine." Paul sighed, then turned to Kim. "It was nice properly talking to you and giving you a hard time. I hope we can do it again soon."

"Paul!"

"You said be nice!"

"Get out!" Jared propelled Paul to the window and pushed him out of it.

They heard a thud, a curse and a death threat against Jared but he was already crossing back to Kim.

"Ow!" came Paul's voice. "That _hurt!_"

"You're practically invincible, moron!" Jared yelled out the window.

"I was talking about your mum's roses, douchebag!" Paul shouted back.

Jared shook his head but Kim found it funny. The obvious affection between the two pack brothers was sweet. In a roughhousing, loud kind of way.

"I think I should definitely go," Kim said. "Abby's probably freaking out and it isn't fair that I left her alone at home to deal with this on top of everything else.

"No, it isn't!" Paul yelled.

"Shut up!" Jared shouted at him.

Paul didn't retaliate but continued to grumble as he picked his way out of the rosebush under Jared's window – bastard knew it was there!

"Can I see you tomorrow?" Jared asked in a normal voice.

"I thought we were having our first date?" Kim said, teasing him. "Unless you're backing out."

"No," Jared said, running his arms down her arms to hold her hands. "I just want you to meet Sam and Emily first. And the rest of the pack."

"Okay, how about this? My mum, your pack, our date, how about that?" Kim suggested.

"Sounds good." Jared bent his head to kiss her lips lightly. "So not fair I saw you naked and I can't do anything about it."

"We'll probably be glad of the lack of protection later – it made us slow down. Now, we can take this at a normal pace."

"Instead of being a one night stand when you're head's all messed up?" Jared said.

"Exactly," Kim nodded. "No using you for sex when I'm not dealing with stuff well."

"But sex isn't off the table completely, is it?" Jared asked, looking worried. "Because that may be a deal breaker. I'm mean, religion, virginity, we can compromise, right?"

"I don't believe in God and I'm not a virgin, so, yes, sex is on the table. At some point, later on, okay?"

"Not a virgin?" Jared asked.

"No. And don't look at me like that. You're not either, and I accept that. You'll have to do the same."

"Sure, sure," Jared said. "Just out of curiosity, who were these boys, where are they and what is their social security number?"

Kim shook her head. "Uh uh, no way, you can't kill them. Besides," she grinned, looking up at him from under thick lashed. "Who said they were all guys?"

Jared's mouth hit the floor and outside Paul laughed out loud. So, Jay's girl had a sense of humour – he liked that.

"Bah –" Jared said.

Kim kissed his open mouth. "Bye, Jared, I'll see you tomorrow."

She gathered up her stuff and left him, still looking slightly dazed, and went downstairs out of the front door.

Paul was on the front lawn picking thorns out of his exposed skin, of which there was a lot given that he was only in cut offs.

"Hey, you!" Kim said, walking up to him.

Even sat down, he wasn't that much shorter than her, and was far broader. "What?" he asked, his tone slightly surly as was usual.

"You look after him, okay?" Kim told him.

"Whatever, Toots," Paul said, going back to a thorn that was stubbornly clinging to the pad of his foot.

Something damp whipped the back of his head. Paul stilled, then slowly looked up at her, a disapproving look on his face.

"Don't whatever me," Kim said, the T-shirt she had wiped him with in one hand – it didn't hurt him but he preferred a different way to get his attention. She squatted down to be closer to his level. "I mean it, Paul," she said, her voice gentler. "Please don't let him get hurt. I know I've been a bitch to him."

"You're been worse than a bitch," Paul stated, "you've been a danger to him, messing with his head like that."

"Well, I'm here now, and I need to know he's going to be okay."

"Of course, he's going to be okay! He's got _me! _And Sam and Embry. We've never hurt him, unlike _some," _Paul said, glaring hard at her.

"Good. This is all new to me, so you guys are going to have to be patient and teach me all about this, okay? I honestly thought he'd get over it, that it was a phase or a bet or something." Kim sighed. "If I'd known it was real for him, too, I wouldn't have...well, yeah, okay, I would have run, but I wouldn't have hurt him this much. So, just...don't think I don't care, okay? Because I do, I really, _really _do."

Paul nodded, seeing the sincerity in her. "Alright."

"Alright." Kim stood up and walked to her car.

"Hey, Kim?" Paul called after her, before she'd even taken two steps.

"Yeah?" She looked back at him.

"I meant what I said, about you being part of the pack now," Paul said. "You _can_ come to us for help. You don't have to do this alone. You shouldn't, especially not this stuff with your mum, believe me, I know."

Kim saw an old pain in Paul's dark eyes and nodded. "I know. Thanks, Paul."

"Sure thing, Toots." Paul turned his back to her and pulled out the thorn from his foot.

Kim nodded to herself as she got in the car and drove home. Paul was a good guy, underneath it all. Unlike some, he was a good guy that didn't pretend to be nice, rather than a bad guy that pretended to nice.

Between a nice guy and a good guy, Kim knew she'd take a good guy every time.

"Where have you been?" Abby shrieked when Kim came through the front door.

Jimmy was in her arms, chewing a toy and looking out of sorts. Snot dribbled from his nose and there were dried tearstains on his face. Kim took him from Abby and cleaned him up with a wet wipe.

"I was at Jared's," she said quietly.

"Oh, well that's just – wait, what?" Abby shook her head. "Care to run that by me one more time?"

"I went to see Jared," Kim repeated.

Abby sat down abruptly at the kitchen table. She opened her mouth, closed it then tried again. "Okay, you're going to have to explain because I'm majorly confused."

"Join the club," Kim said, sitting down to and setting Jimmy on her lap.

"But yesterday, you wanted nothing to do with him and today you run off to spend," Abby checked the clock, "_four hours_ with him? Forgive me if I think this has a bolt out of the blue quality to it."

"I know it seems strangely sudden to everyone else but it makes sense to me," Kim said.

"Okay, so explain!" Abby said, not letting her off the hook.

"I'm instinctive, Abby," Kim said. "And rash, I always have been. When Jared says he cares, my instinct is to run. So I did. Then suddenly everything falling apart and I tried to think of the last time I felt safe. And the only thing that came to mind was Jared. It wasn't a particular time or event just this...feeling I got whenever I was with him. He made things stop spinning and that's what I needed...And then I got in the shower with him," she grimaced.

"What!" Abby shrieked again.

"Easy on the decibels, Abs!" Kim said when Jimmy clapped his hands over his ears at the sound.

"Why would you get in the shower with him?"

"Because he's really hot and I was cold?" Kim said innocently.

Abby folded her arms and gave Kim a look.

"Because I'm an idiot and he's really hot?"

"Getting there."

"Because I'm an idiot and a couple of years ago I found out that sex is a great way to switch of your brain."

"Kim!"

"Well, it is!" Kim defended. "And he didn't anyway, because I'm not on the Pill and he didn't have any protection."

"Nice to know one of you has a brain," Abby said, disapproval dripping from her lips.

"Yeah, okay."

"So, what? You can suddenly go a hundred miles an hour with a guy, is that it?" Abby asked. Kim didn't strict her as the type. Her own mother, sure, but Kim wasn't a skank.

Kim shrugged. "There was a time that my self-esteem was measured by how many guys I could sleep with."

"Jesus, Kim!"

"Yeah, alright, little Miss Kimmy isn't the shy virgin everyone thought she was, if they fucking knew her at all, alright! I was tired of being ignored back then, Abby! I wanted someone to see me, someone to want me! Then I realised that _so _was not what was going on with these guys and when we moved I left that mistake behind me."

"How many mistakes was it?" Abby asked, picking at the edge of the table.

Kim sighed. "I was at that school for a month and I slept with six guys."

Abby's eyebrows shot up until they were in danger of disappearing into her hair.

"Yeah, I know. But there haven't be any since – we didn't stay long enough to get to know anyone and I didn't want to sleep with someone without knowing them again. Having a relationship with them."

Abby snorted. "Well, that resolution didn't work out, did it?"

"Have we covered that I'm an idiot?" Kim said. "I don't need to be loved to have sex, Abby, that's just not who I am. But, for what it's worth, I'm glad me and Jared didn't have sex tonight. Things are up in the air enough without adding that to it. Yet."

"Fine," Abby said. "But don't get pregnant, okay? Because this family so cannot deal with that, too."

"Deal."

"Okay. Fine. Did I mention I hate you for leaving me this afternoon?" Abby asked.

"No," Kim said.

"Okay. I hate you for leaving me this afternoon!"

"I know, and I'm sorry." Kim leant across the table and Abby took the hand outstretched to her. "I promise, from now on, I'm going to try and be a better person, okay?"

Abby nodded. "Okay. Me, too. I think tomorrow I'll call my dad at rehab. For all that stuff I say about him being a good person and me loving him, I haven't been the best daughter. I should have tried to help him before, when he first started drinking. I just didn't know how bad it was." Abby's eyes welled up and her lip trembled.

Kim got up and wrapped her arm around Abby. Jimmy reached for her for, grabbing a handful of Abby's hair. That seemed to break Abby, who burst into tears and hugged them both fiercely. "We're going to be okay, aren't we, Kim? It's all going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Kim said, resting her cheek on the top of Abby's head. "We're going to be fine. We're part of a pack now."

"Huh?" Abby asked, looking at her.

"Perks of imprinting, apaz," Kim said. "A whole lot of extended family all of a suddenly, half of whom are really hot guys that don't own shirts."

Abby snorted a laugh and wiped her eyes. "Cool. I can deal with that."

"Okay, let's go to bed," Kim said. "It has been a very long day and I think we need to put an end to it right now."

"Sounds great," Abby said.

But they were still up an hour later because Jimmy decided that he didn't _want_ to sleep tonight, so they were out in garden, sat on the deck chairs when a wolf head popped over the wall.

"Hey, babe," Kim said. "Come on over, all of you."

The wolf dropped back down; there were some rustles, then four insanely muscled guys vaulted over the wall.

"Hey," Jared said, walking over to sit on the ground by Kim's chair. Her feet were cold because she wasn't wearing any shoes or socks so Jared sat rubbing them until they warmed.

"You alright?" Paul surprised everyone by asking Abby.

"Yeah, I'm cool now, thanks." Abby smiled at him and Paul sat next to her seat, resting his arm on her armrest.

"Care to explain?" Jared said, looking over at them.

"No," Paul said shortly.

Embry grinned at Paul's discomfort, making Paul kick him. Sam grabbed Paul's leg before he could do it again.

"Stop," he said in his deep voice.

Jimmy, who had finally closed his eyes, opened them to see _people. Big_ people. _Boy _people, unlike the women he was normally surrounded by. He clapped his hands in delight and reached straight for Sam, or rather, the beaded necklace Sam had on. Sam caught the boy with lightning reflexes, before he could pull out of Kim's arms, and settled him against his chest.

"Sleep, little one," he said. His chest rumbled under Jimmy's cheek, and the toddler was lulled into sleep by the warmth created all around him by Sam's chest and arms.

"Aw," Embry said, quietly so as not to wake the young one. "Practising for later, Sam?"

"Quiet, Pup," Sam said affectionately, looking down at the little boy in his arms. "He is a sweet on, isn't he?"

"Kinda. In the drooling, pooping kind of way," Paul said.

"Like you then," Abby tossed at him.

The rest of them looked on, expecting Paul to deliver a stinging diatribe as usual, and were surprised when he just waved it away. Abby smiled, ruffling the short spikes covering Paul's scalp. Paul didn't pull away, but instead, leaned into Abby, threading his fingers with hers.

Jared and Kim exchanged a look. Embry looked at Sam, a _wtf _expression on his face. Sam just smiled his enigmatic smile, and shrugged, careful not to disturb Jimmy.

They sat there for a while longer, until Embry said his mum would kill him if he wasn't home before dawn. Sam wanted to see Kim and so passed her the soundly slumber child, who shivered as soon as Sam left him. Kim tightened the blanket around him and Jared kissed her cheek.

"Later," he said. Kim nodded and watched him follow the other two.

Paul looked at Abby and she nodded as if he had said something. He squeezed her hand and ran across the garden, leaping over the wall with his brothers.


	16. Author's note

Okay, revised chapter fifteen but that doesn't count as a new chapter for so you wouldn't have got the alert and I didn't want you to read the following chapter based on the first version because the story goes in a different direction.

Thanks for reading!

Chainofcommand


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

It was noon before Jared picked Kim up – they had all slept in late, after their little gathering in the garden. He looked especially good today, like he had put more effort into his appearance than normal. He worn chinos and a button down shirt.

"Trying to impress my mother?" Kim asked.

Jared looked nervous and tugged at his collar. "Well, since this is the first time I get to _make_ an impression."

Kim walked up to him, smoothing his shirt, and tapping him on the nose. "You look gorgeous."

"You, too," he said, sliding his hands around to rest on her bottom.

"Uh huh, let's go, before things speed up, okay?" Kim smiled as Jared hung his head, pouting. "Abby! Let's go!"

"Coming!" Abby called from inside the doorway, "But Jimmy won't put his coat on!"

They peeked around the door to see Abby knelt in front of Jimmy who was standing with one of his fingers in his mouth. Every time Abby tried to put Jimmy's coat on him, he wriggled out of it, giggling. While he was enjoying this new game, Abby was getting a little frustrated.

"You're cute, kid, but we've got to go! Don't you want to see Mummy?" Abby asked.

She had said the magic word. "Mummy!" Jimmy yelled and took his coat off Abby, putting it on himself.

Kim leant against the doorjamb, smiling at him. Jimmy was getting so big. He was so beautiful. But he was still young, and couldn't do up the zip. "Come here, baby," she said, kneeling in front of him and doing it up for him. She flipped up his hood, because, naturally, in the five seconds since Jared had arrived, it had started to rain. "Let's go, baba." She picked him up and the four of them trooped out to the car.

"Want me to drive?" Jared asked.

"I got it," Kim said, buckling Jimmy into the car seat.

Abby saw Jared checking out Kim's ass and coughed pointedly. He looked at her, grinned and looked away.

Jared had to push the seat all the way back to get his legs in and so Abby sat behind Kim, Jimmy's car seat being in the middle.

Leanne looked a little surprised to see them all. "Kim, Jimmy, Abby...Jared. You're...all...here."

"Yes, Mum we're all here," Kim said, putting Jimmy next to Leanne on the bed, taking off the little one's coat and hanging it up on the back of the door. She gave a nod of the head towards Jared. _You promised, _she mouthed to her mother.

_I know, _Leanne mouthed. "Why don't you and Abby go get us all some drinks?" she suggested. "These bloody doctors have got me on lockdown – no sugar or additives or some such nonsense."

"Alright," Kim said, going to kiss her mother's forehead. "Thank you," she whispered in Leanne's ear.

"I'll help," Jared said quickly.

"No, Jared, I'd like it if you stayed here," Leanne said.

Jared gulped, "okay," he said, his voice quavering. _I want my pack! _He thought to himself – everybody liked Sam.

"Be strong," Kim said, grinning at him, kissing his cheek.

"Save me," he whispered.

But Kim waved to Jimmy, and left with Abby, who was looking between Leanne, reclining on the bed looking a little embarrassed, and Jared who was stood, eyeing his girlfriend-when-they-actually-got-to-go-on-a-date's mother with trepidation.

"Have a seat, Jared," Leanne said, gesturing to the chair next to the bed. Jared folded his long frame into the seat and Jimmy climbed over Leanne to sit in between them. He like the very big, warm people here.

_Good little buffer, _Jared thought, wanting to pat him on the head.

"So, I have a few things to say to you," Leanne said. "Firstly, I must apologise for the way I acted towards you. I judged you before I got to know you – part of me didn't want to – and I shouldn't have. I must also apologise for hitting you, it was inexcusable. Of all people I should be aware of that. But, that belongs in the past now – I certainly never wanted to play the victim, Jared, and now I can't. Hypocrisy is not a thing I want in my repertoire; I wouldn't accept it in another, and I won't accept it in myself. I hope you forgive me."

"Yeah, okay," Jared said, nodding. "It didn't hurt."

"That's not the point," Leanne said. "Sometimes the point isn't pain, it's humiliation." A dark look passed over Leanne face. But then it cleared and Leanne looked at him smiling. "She's been different since you talked to her. You didn't talk to her before, but can I ask what changed, since I was rude to you that day you came to the house?"

Jared looked away a moment. "I went through some stuff recently that opened my eyes. I know I didn't see her before, but please believe that it is one of my biggest regrets. I could have had three more months with her. But, I want to be with her now...if that's alright with you."

"And if I said no?"

"I'd keep asking until you said yes," Jared said determinedly.

Leanne smile widened. "I like you, God knows I tried not to, but you are good for her. I don't know why. It's like she's been missing you all these years and now you're here." Leanne shook her head. "Listen to me go on and on, sounding like a fortune teller. I should have learned my lesson about believing in destiny and all that rubbish the first time around. I expect you think me foolish."

Jared shook his head. "You sound like my parents. They always describe each other as the other part of themselves. Like they weren't whole before that."

"How long have they been together?" Leanne asked.

"Been married for twenty-four years, but they were together for three years before that," Jared told her.

"That's the way to do it," Leanne smiled. "I met, married and was impregnated by Kim's father in a matter of months. Smart people take marriage and children seriously, Jared. At eighteen years old, you probably think it's true love and that you'll be together forever; I did."

"We're not you!" Jared said sharply. "I'm not her father, and Kim isn't you. I _am _going to be with Kim for a long, _long_ time, but not because fate or destiny or whatever put us together. Leanne, please, Kim told me about your marriage to Carl and I'm sorry you had to go through that but not all relationships go that way. Weren't your mother and father happy?"

A tear slid down Leanne's face. "Yes," she whispered, her voice cracking. "They were so happy. Her death nearly destroyed my father."

"But it didn't...he kept going for you, didn't he? Like my parents kept going for me after...I would do that for Kim, Leanne, and if something happened to me, I would want her to be happy, even though the thought of being without her, or her being with someone else, kills me, I would want her to be happy."

Leanne rubbed Jimmy's back as he sat on the bed next to her, playing with his toy. "Bugger," she said, and Jared heard the accent Kim shared which made him smile despite everything, "you are a good guy. Haven't known to many of them, and the ones I have...well," Leanne looked sad, "I drove them away soon enough."

"What about your father, don't you want to see him?" Jared asked. "Kim said you haven't seen him since before Kim was born."

Leanne shook her head. "No. Carl didn't like how close my father and I were, especially after the death of my mother. My father was so unhappy after Mum's death, and when I met Carl he said I didn't have to be around that, that it was selfish of my dad to do that to me. I was so swept up by him, so in love with the idea of love, that I believed him."

"Why didn't you go back?" Jared asked. "Kim said you didn't want Carl to find them, that you were ashamed."

"Huh, Kim is an intuitive little person sometimes," Leanne said. "Yes, I wanted to protect that part of my family, but more so, I was ashamed. My father had taught me to be strong. He taught me how to defend myself. Carl had me so spun around; I thought my father would be disappointed in me. Part of me still thinks that sometimes, but mostly, I think he would be hurt that I didn't come to him. That he's never seen his grandchildren."

Leanne patted Jared's hand all of a sudden. "Jared, we're a family of crazies, you might as well know that now. So, you still in?"

"Still in," Jared nodded.

"Alright then. So, I've apologised, we've discussed you and Kim being together, our family history. Is there anything else?"

"No, I don't think so," said Jared.

Just in time, Kim and Abby came in. "Drinks!" she said, "and I've talked to Doctor Gerandy who said the test results should come back today – they were given priority."

"Wonderful, pass me that coke," Leanne said, reaching for it.

Kim grinned and passed her mother the can.

Leanne took a swig, "lovely. Right so, Kim, you'll be glad to know I'm fine for you to be with Jared. Unless, you get pregnant and then I will be forced to cut Jared in such a way that sex will be pointless and painful for him. "You're alright with that, aren't you, Jared?" Leanne asked sweetly, patting his hand again.

"I'm going to say yes because I can't say no," Jared said.

"Jay jay!" Jimmy cried.

"He knows my name?" Jared asked, a little baffled but quite pleased.

"Apparently so," Leanne said as Jimmy stood up and leant towards Jared. Everyone in the room jumped towards the boy but Jared had his hands on the boy's waist before he left the bed.

"Whoa, Jimmy!" Jared said. "Don't do that, kid, you'll get hurt."

"Nope," Jimmy said.

"Yes."

"Nope!"

"Don't try me, kid, I'll win," Jared said, pulling Jimmy onto his lap where Jimmy stood up. He bounced on Jared's legs, giggling. "You're a weird one, kiddo," Jared said, "in a happy sort of way."

"Let him be weird," Kim said. "Rather that than a clone."

"Hear hear!" Abby said, raising her soda bottle in toast.

"Can I call my parents?" Jared asked. "I was going to take Kim to meet them, but it might be nice if they came here instead, then you can meet them to, Ms Lincoln."

"You can call me Leanne," Kim's mother said. "Given that I like you so much."

"That doesn't scare me, I promise," said Jared. Kim laughed. "I'll be right back." Jared left.

"What did you say?" Kim said. "Were you nice?"

"I was fine," Leanne said. "I apologised. He forgave me readily enough. Doesn't hold grudges, does he?"

Kim thought over last night. "No, he doesn't."

"Okay, you can be with him," Leanne said. "Since he's alright and, hey, he took my baby!"

They looked around to see that Jared had indeed left the room with Jimmy.

"Kim, go get Jimmy!" Leanne shrieked. She never let Jimmy alone with people she didn't know. And she didn't know Jared, not yet.

Kim left the room, hurrying to find him – her mother would go spare until Jimmy was back with her. She found Jared outside on his cellphone, Jimmy on one hip.

"Alright, see you guys soon. No, Mum, don't bring grapes! We don't know what wrong with her. Just...leave the grapes at home, okay? Yes, okay. I love you, too. That, that's...that's Jimmy, Kim's little brother." Jimmy had been giggling away and trying to take the phone, making Jared have to lean his head back and tell him to stop. "Well, I sort of forgot I had him and walked out of the room with him. Stop laughing, it was an honest mistake! Look, just... bye, Mum!" Jared hung up, shaking his head at Jimmy. "Silly parents, hey? Come on, let's get you back before your mother changes her mind about killing me." Jared turned to see Kim standing there, arms folded, amusement lighting up her face.

"I believe that's _my_ little brother," she said.

"So it is," Jared said. "Catch!" He gripped Jimmy and made to throw him. Kim yelped and Jared laughed – Jared had hold of Jimmy and wouldn't have let go.

"Ooh, you monster!" Kim said, taking Jimmy back. "Pretending to throw him like that!"

"He loved it," Jared said, putting his arm around Kim's shoulders. Jimmy was giggling manically in her arms, as though trying to prove Jared right – he had loved swooping through the air like that.

They got back to Leanne's room and she took her son back gratefully. "Phew, there's my baby boy," she said, sitting Jimmy on her lap.

"My parents will be here soon," Jared said.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the Lanes turned up. And Tally had a hamper.

"Hi, I'm George Lane, and this is my wife, Tally," he said, shaking Leanne hand.

"Yeah, we've met," Tally said, a little coldly.

George looked between his wife and Leanne.

"I threatened to beat Jared using her," Leanne said.

"Oh!" George nodded. Then the confusion came back. "Why exactly?"

"Oh, I was being a bitch and taking out my fear for my daughter on your son's face and his mother didn't like that," Leanne said.

"Right. But we're good now," George asked, waving his hand between his wife, his son and Leanne.

"Yeah, Dad, we're good," Jared said. "This is Abby, from school. She's staying with the Lincolns. And Jimmy, Kim's little brother. And Kim," Jared said, slipping his arm around the girl in question's waist and pulling her closer.

Kim smiled nervously, not knowing how they would take her. She hadn't exactly excelled at being the potential girlfriend. "Hi." She gave a little wave.

"Hello, Kim, how are you?" Tally asked. Politely. A little too polite but at least she talked to her.

"Fine, thank you. How are you?" Kim asked.

"We're great, thank you," George said, before Tally could speak.

"This is for you," Tally said, holding out the hamper. "Hospital food can be pretty rough."

"Ooh, thank you!" Leanne said, nodding at Kim to take it. She missed her home cooked food.

"Thanks," Kim said, taking the hamper. It damn near dislocated her shoulders when she took the full weight of it and the basket dropped like a stone. "Whoa, Christ!"

"Oh, yeah, it's kind of full," said Tally. "We thought you might need stuff."

"Thanks," Kim panted. She tried to put it on the bed but couldn't lift it. "I'm gonna leave it right here, if that's okay."

"Sure, Jared can take it to the car for you," Tally said.

Abby sat there, nursing her bottle of soda. "Anyone else here feelin' a little awkward?" she asked.

There was a ripple of laughter and people began to relax more.

"So, you and Jared finally giving this thing a go?" George asked Kim.

"I think so," Kim said. "We're going on a date tonight."

"Ha! I told you they would be together by the time we got back! Pay up, lady!" George said, pointing to his wife.

"They're not together!" Tally said. "They're going on a first date! It could go wrong, horribly, horribly wrong meaning they don't get together for another week so I win. Besides, you said they'd be _together_, meaning a relationship. Agreeing to go on a date is not together. So, ha! I win! Pay up, man!"

"You guys took a bet on how long it would take us to get together?" Jared said incredulously.

"Well, honey, nothing was happening and we were getting a little bored waiting," said Tally. "So, we..."

"...thought to make some money out of my misery!" Jared finished for her.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, you didn't lose that much weight," Tally said, waving a hand. "Of course, we had been about to call Grandma Lane to come and knock some sense into you."

"Oh, God, you wouldn't," Jared said. He looked at Kim. "She would have annihilated Kim!"

"_But_, you and Kim would have gotten together," Tally said.

"Before we came back from our second honeymoon," George groused. Tally smiled and rubbed her husband's arm.

"O-kay," Kim said, "moving on. Abby, can you look after Jimmy tonight so Jared and I can go out?"

"I'm sure my thriving social life can make room for that," Abby said drolly.

"If you don't want to, we can look after him," said Tally, who was now kneeling in front of Jimmy getting reacquainted.

"No offense, but I'd rather leave Jimmy with Abby," Leanne said. "She knows Jimmy."

"And you know her," Tally said.

"Yeah," Leanne admitted with a nod. "With everything else going on, I need my babies close."

Kim got onto the bed, sat up against the pillows next to her mother, her arm around Leanne's shoulders. Leanne smiled at her daughter, patting her leg.

Jimmy got bored with Tally and stood up to walk up the bed. Abby steady him with her hands around his torso, helping him up to where Leanne held out her hand.

"Jay Jay!" Jimmy cried. "Jay Jay, here!"

"I'm coming, kid," Jared said, moving to where Jimmy was stood with both his arms in the air to be picked up. Jared picked him up, a little more self-conscious now he was holding Jimmy when he was thinking about it – before he had walked out without even realising he had Jimmy with him.

"Too tight, Jay Jay," Jimmy said, pushing at Jared's hands.

"Okay, sorry, just, you're really little, you know? I don't want to drop you." Jared felt a little ridiculous having this conversation with a two year old.

"Not little," Jimmy said frowning. "Me big now. Kimmy?"

"Yeah, sweetie boy," said Kim, swinging her legs off the bed to kiss Jimmy's head and rub his back. "You're a big boy now."

"Me gonna be big like Jay Jay," Jimmy said, laying his head on Jared's chest.

Jared gave a crooked smile. "Not quite, kid. But you'll be big enough, one day."

"Promise?" Jimmy couldn't quite make his 'r's' so it came out 'pwomise'.

"Promise," Jared said, rubbing Jimmy's back like Kim had done before. Jimmy gave a contented little sigh, popped his thumb in his mouth and fell asleep on Jared's chest. Funny feelings made Jared's chest tight with Jimmy sleeping on him peacefully. Protective instincts came to the fore and Jared found himself moving more carefully than he ever had before, taking a seat so he could gently lay Jimmy in the cradle of his arms instead. Kim got her brother's blue blanket out of the diaper bag and tucked it around Jimmy.

"It's about time you went to sleep, little monster," Kim said affectionately, kissing the tufty black hair. "You okay with him," Kim asked. "'Cause I can take –"

"No!" Jared said. "No, it's okay, I've got him." He smoothed down Jimmy's hair, smiling down at the bundle in his arms. "I got you, Jim-bug," he whispered.

His parents looked on at their son, totally absorbed in the slumbering child he held – Jared looked so cute, sitting there. In a more mature way than they had seen him before. Tally dug in her handbag and took out the camera she always carried. She turned off the flash so she wouldn't wake Jimmy or make Jared jolt. She snapped off some pictures; looking over them, she decided her favourite one was where Jared was caught in the motion of tucking in the blanket under his arm, the back of his hand gently stroking Jimmy's rosy cheek. Tally elbowed George gently and showed him the picture. George smiled at the photo – his son was growing up into a real good man.

Tally showed Leanne the photos. "Do you mind?" she asked Jimmy's mother – it wasn't good to take photos of other people's children.

"That's such a sweet photo," Leanne breathed, stroking the pixel Jimmy. "Can I get a copy?"

"Sure," Tally said, taking back the camera and putting it in her bag.

There was a knock at the door. Doctor Gerandy poked his head through the door and looked surprised at the number of people inside.

"Ms Bailey?" he asked. I have your test results now, if everyone else could leave," he said to the room.

"I'm staying," Kim said immediately, squeezing her mom's hand. Leanne smiled gratefully.

"We'll come in when you're done," Tally said. Jared stood up carefully not to jostle Jimmy who was now sleeping heavily, his breath steady and slow. The Lanes walked out while Abby stood there dithering; she wasn't really part of the family so the doctor wouldn't let her stay but it felt wrong to leave.

"Miss?" Dr. Gerandy said, gesturing politely to the door.

"She's staying," said Kim.

"I can only speak in front of fam – "

"She's my sister," Kim said, winking at Abby. "Can't you see the family resemblance? She held out her hand and Abby took it so they were holding hands over the bed. She took Leanne's other hand, completing the circle.

"Okay," the doctor nodded. "Well, it is a mixed bag, to be honest with you, but overall, the news is very good." He gave them a reassuring smile. "Ms Bailey, you do have a brain tumour, but it is benign and operable. We'll be prepping you for surgery tomorrow afternoon. There will be a brain scan after a couple of days to make sure we got it all and you'll be in a critical unit but that's normal given the level of care that is required after brain surgery."

"When will I be able to go?" Leanne asked.

"A week, maybe two," Dr. Gerandy said. "You'll have to stay in bed for between six and eight weeks after the operation; you'll have to take everything easier, and build up to walking and eating again."

"That's a lot of strain on you guys," Leanne said, looking at her girls.

"Mom, don't worry about it," Kim said.

"But my job..." Leanne said.

"Mom! You're resting, that's it!" Kim said. "Let us look after you. Please."

"You really don't have a choice, Ms Lincoln," Dr. Gerandy pressed. "Leaving the brain tumour is far more dangerous than having it removed. The bouts of unconsciousness will become more frequent and longer until, one day, you won't wake up at all. It's eight weeks now, or death later. I'm sorry to be hard on you, but which would you and your children prefer?"

Leanne sighed. "Okay, fine. Surgery tomorrow. Then rest. When can I go back to work?"

"What is your job?" Dr. Gerandy asked.

"Secretary in the Police Department," Leanne said.

"Sitting down most of the time?"

"Yes."

"Then, you should be able to go back to work quite quickly," the doctor said. "Physical labour, construction workers, dancers and the like, would have to take it more slowly, but you should be back to a full working day within a couple of weeks of going back. I don't know whether that's good or bad news," he said with a smile.

"We'll be fine, Mom," Kim said. "It's all okay."

"Fine, fine." Leanne lay back on the pillows. "But I want my baby back now. Get Jared in here."

"You got it, Mom," Kim said with a smile. She kissed Leanne's forehead and went to get Jimmy.

"Thanks, doc," Leanne said to Gerandy.

"You're welcome," he said. "I wish all news was this good." He nodded to Abby and Leanne and left the room.

Kim pushed open the door and Jared, still carrying Jimmy, walked in with her. He carefully placed Jimmy into his mother's arms and stepped back. There was a timid knock at the door and Tally was there.

"Is it okay if we come in, too?" she asked.

"Sure," Leanne said. "Come on in."

Tally smiled and she and George came in. "How did it go?" she asked, "if you don't mind me asking."

"We got the good news," Leanne said, smiling down at her son. "Benign and operable tumour. This time tomorrow it should be gone. Couple of months and I'm back at work."

"How long until you're out of hospital?" Tally asked.

"Couple of weeks, maybe," Leanne said.

"You guys are welcome to stay with us until you're released," Tally said.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with Kim living with her boyfriend, even before he's really her boyfriend," Leanne said. "Not that the offer isn't generous, but my teenage daughter, your teenage son," she wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, I get that," Tally said. "Well, is there anyone you can stay with?"

"We're fine on our own," Abby said. "I can take care of myself, and Kim has looked after Jimmy before."

"But if Chief Swan finds out," Tally said. "He's not going to be happy with two teenagers living alone with a toddler. By law he can't be. He'll have to contact the Social Services."

"I'm not going back to Care," Kim said. "No way. We'll be fine."

"We'll talk to Chief Swan," George said. "A friend of mine is a friend of his, Billy Black. If we say that we're looking out for you, he may look the other way for the two weeks while your mom is in hospital."

"Or you could not tell him," said Kim. "That makes it easier."

"We'll talk about it when it becomes necessary," George soothed, heading off the argument before it could go anywhere.

"My dad will be out of rehab soon," Abby said. "We can move into my house and save on the rent."

"Two teenagers, a toddler, a recovering alcoholic and a woman whose just had brain surgery," Leanne said dryly. "That's a functional family."

"Better than what we had before," Kim shrugged. "When can we move in to yours, Abby?"

"Today, if you want. The house is empty," Abby told her.

"I'll get the pack together, we'll help you move," Jared said.

"The pack?" Abby asked.

"The pack of...friends...that I have," Jared tried to cover lamely.

"Whatever," Abby said. "I'll go to open the house if Kim can drop me off on the way home."

"Yeah, sure," Kim said.

"You guys should go," Leanne said. "I want you moved in, closer to Tally and George, before I have the surgery."

"You sure? We've got another hour of visiting time," Kim said, laying her hand on Leanne's arm.

"I'm sure," Leanne said, rocking Jimmy.

"Wait, what do we do with Sleeping Beauty?" Kim asked, nodding to Jimmy. "We can't leave him here and now he's asleep, I'd prefer not to wake him with all the moving."

"We'll take him," Tally said. Leanne looked at her, eyebrow raised. "Trust me, I'm a child minder."

"Oh, okay," Leanne said. "Well, you guys go, Tally, do you mind staying? I'd like to hold at least one of my kids for as long as I can."

"Yeah, sure," Tally said, taking the seat next to the bed. "George, you staying or going with them?"

"I'll go," George said. "Another pair of hands can't go amiss."

"Alright, see you later." Tally kissed her husband goodbye and hugged her son.

"We'll be back tomorrow to see you before you go in for surgery," Kim said to Leanne.

"Okay. I want to hear how it's all going at the house," Leanne said.

"You got it. Bye, Mom," said Kim. She hugged her mom tightly, Leanne kissing her cheek. "Take care of yourself, Mommy," she whispered.

"You, too, baby girl." Leanne let Kim go and gestured to Abby. "Don't think you're getting out of the embarrassing Mom-hug, young lady, get over here."

Abby smiled, a little overwhelmed – she had never had that kind of relationship with her mom before. She hugged Leanne as tight as she could. "I'll take care of them, okay? We can stay as long as we like – make that house a home finally."

"Okay, sweetheart," Leanne said, brushing the hair off Abby's face and kissing her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." Abby nodded and left with Kim, Jared and George. Kim paused long enough to kiss Jimmy goodbye and smile at Tally.

_I know that things are a little more condensed than they would be in__real life but I wanted to get this chapter up and the story moving! Updates won't be as regular now that I'm writing the chapters again but I'm still going to be aiming to update every couple of days – feel free to bombard me with messages telling me to get my arse moving if I don't keep to that!_

_Review please!_


	18. Chapter 17

_Sorry for the delay but I am writing these chapters now, and it was my grandmother's birthday and we went up there so I didn't write for a couple of days. _

_Thanks to laurazuleta18, happinie93, Hanski, Beachbunny24, dazzleglo, Ralobat, Bratalia, The all mighty and powerfulM for the reviews; misshotwolf for the favourite; and Bratalia nad petrafan7 for the story alert._

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* * *

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Chapter Seventeen

"So, how come you guys never thought to move in here before?" Paul puffed, three boxes of linens balanced in his arms, leaning on his lungs. It wasn't heavy to him but was a mite painful.

"Never thought of it if I'm honest," Kim said, two suitcases in her hands.

"I never brought it up because I wasn't sure I wanted to come back here," Abby said. "This place isn't exactly full of happy memories for me."

Paul put the boxes down in the room Abby pointed out and put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze. "It'll be better now, Abs."

"Hope so," Abby said, putting her arm around his waist and leaning into his side. "At least we've got the room in this house."

"So, how come you have a five bedroom house?" Kim said. "Bit of overkill for a family of three, isn't it?"

"It belonged to my grandparents," Abby said. "They wanted a lot of kids but it never happened. My grandma had four miscarriages before she had my dad. Then, when she got sick and my granddad was older, my dad moved in to help look after her. He met my mom, and she moved in and had me."

"What was wrong with your grandmother?" Embry asked, walking in backwards holding one end of the crib. Sam had the other end.

"Cancer," Abby said. "She held on for six years. Died when I was seven. Broke my grandfather's heart. He died three months later. It's was like he couldn't be without her. I think that's why my dad stayed with my mom – he was hoping for a love like his parents had."

Paul pulled her in closer.

"Wow," Kim said. "Suddenly my life seems less crappy. I can't imagine watching the people I love die. I'm so sorry, Abby."

"It's okay," Abby said. "I mean, it's not, but we did the whole therapy thing. Talk about our feelings, dealing with the grief. I'm okay now. Let's finish getting this stuff organised; I'd like to be able to sleep tonight."

* * *

By midnight, Abby's stuff was once more in her old room, Kim had the room across the hall, and Jimmy had the room next to her, between Kim and the room that would be Leanne's when she left the hospital. Abby's parents' room was given a wide berth, though Abby knew she would clean it up before her dad got back from rehab.

"Wow, this place has, like, four bathrooms," Kim said walking around.

"A toilet and shower downstairs, a bathroom upstairs, my dad's room has an en suite and so does your mom's room which is why I put her stuff in there. Or did you want the en suite?" Abby said.

"No, no, it's a good idea to put Mom in there," Kim nodded.

"Alright. Everything from the old house is put away, Sam is bringing Emily and a lot of food over, the boys are chilling in the living room and Jimmy's down for the night. All in all, I didn't think we'd get this done so quick," Abby said.

"I guess, that's what it means to have four insanely muscled guys helping you move in," Kim shrugged, grinning. George had left after helping Kim pack their stuff into the U-Haul had taken longer than expected and he had to pick Tally and Jimmy up from the hospital. He had dropped Jimmy off only a little while ago when Jared had called saying they had done as much as they could that night.

"Yeah." Abby leant her head on Kim's shoulder. "Man, it's weird to be back. But kinda good, in another way." She straightened. "I'm going to go check on the boys."

"Okay." Kim stood with her arms crossed over her body. "Abby," she said, spinning on her heel.

Abby paused at the top of the stairs, one hand on the banister. "Yeah?"

"Thanks, for this," Kim said, waving her hand to encompass the hall. "Moving us into your house, I just...I've never had a friend like you before. I'm really glad I met you, Abby. I...I love you, Abs."

Abby smiled and went to hug Kim. "I love you, too, Kim. And I'm glad we're all here together."

"Me, too, Abby."

They let each other go and went downstairs to the spacious living room. Kim unclipped the baby monitor from her belt, setting it on the end table and curling into Jared's side. Abby sat next to Paul who put his arm around her shoulders. She leant her head on his chest and relaxed. Embry sat cross-legged on the armchair, wondering if he was the only one who hadn't imprinted – sounded a little sucky to be the only one who hadn't had this 'rare' (his ass rare!) occurrence but Paul hadn't said anything. He was about the only one – Embry head had constantly hurt when he was a wolf from Jared's emo-ness and Sam's in love-ness.

"Not the first date you pictured, huh?" said Kim.

"Not exactly," said Jared and kissed her forehead. "But hey, I got my girl, I got my pack and food is on the way. On the whole, I'm having a very good night."

Kim gave a husky chuckle. "I don't want to speak too soon, but it seems like everything is sorting itself out."

"Touch wood!" Jared said, putting a hand on the table.

Kim laughed again. "Yeah, baby, touch wood."

The front door bell rang. "I'll get it!" Embry said, bounding to the door.

"That kid's like a bundle of energy," Jared said looking after him.

"Should we get him checked for ADHD?" Paul said, looking over at him. The pack brothers grinned at each other.

"Sam! Emily! FOOD!" they heard the youngest member of the pack greet them in turn. "Come on in! Kitchen's through here."

"Come on," Kim said, patting Abby's leg, "let's go help."

"We'll help," said Jared.

"No, no, you stay here," Kim said, kissing his mouth briefly. "You guys did all the heavy lifting; we'll get you something to eat."

"You sure?" Jared said, sinking back into the sofa.

"Yeah, we'll be right back," Kim said. She and Abby walked into the kitchen.

This one was three times the size of any of the kitchens Kim had had before. "Hey, Sam, Embry, why don't you guys go back into the living room with Jared and Paul, we'll get this together."

"You sure?" Sam asked, unintentionally parroting Jared.

"Yeah, it'll give us time to get to know Emily here," Abby said, smiling at the pretty young woman standing next to Sam. The scars had startled her at first but the easy smile rid Abby of any anxiety of looking at the woman.

"You go, baby, I'll help the girls," Emily said.

"Only if you're sure," Sam said.

"Sam! Dude, come on! They said they wanted to and we've been carrying stuff for the past four hours," Embry said. "Let's go!" With that, Embry raced from the room. Sam shook his head at Embry's antics, kissed Emily's cheek and followed at a more sedate pace.

"So, yeah, I'm Emily," she said. "I know you're Kim and Abby. I'm sorry, but I know more about Kim than I do you, Abby – Jared talks about her."

Kim winced. "Do you hate me, too?"

Emily shook her head. "No. I know this can freak you out. And I'm in no position to tell you it isn't dangerous being a werewolf's old lady." She touched the scars on her cheek. "Sam phased when I was too close and I got these, which is why I was a little worried when Jared said you had a toddler."

"Jared's great with Jimmy," Kim said quickly. "And Jimmy adores him – Jared would never do anything to hurt him!"

"No, I know," Emily said, secretly pleased how fast Kim jumped to Jared's defence. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you both. What do you say we get these boys fed?"

They worked quickly as a team, putting together trays of the muffins Emily had brought, serving up the lasagne she had made and heated in the oven.

"Do you think we made enough?" Abby joked, looking at the pile of food they had amounted.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what these boys can put away," Emily said, smiling. "Come on, before Embry moans that he's 'wasting away'." She picked up Sam's plate and a bowl of salad and walked through to the living room. Kim grabbed Jared's plate and the garlic bread while Abby got Paul's and Embry's.

Emily was right – it was surprising how much the boys put away. The women got them set up before getting their own food and drinks for everyone one.

Halfway through, the baby monitor started to cry.

"'Scuse me," Kim said. "I just got to settle Jimmy. She put her plate on the floor and danced her way through the maze of plates and glasses, and people's feet on the floor.

Upstairs, she opened the door to the darkened nursery and crept through. The only light in her was the nightline plugged in the wall. Walking over to the crib, Kimmy leant over and rubbed Jimmy's belly to soothe him. She didn't talk to him, keeping everything very quiet and calm. After a couple of minutes, Jimmy quietened, his eyelids fluttering, then fell straight back to sleep.

Kim smiled and turned around, jumping when she saw Jared standing in the doorway. "Whoa!" she whispered. "You scared me!"

"Sorry, hon." Jared smiled at her. "He okay?" he asked, jerking his chin in the direction of the crib.

"Yeah, he's fine," Kim said, walking out of the room and leaving the door open a crack.

"It doesn't bother him, being in a new place?" Jared asked.

"No, he's been doing it all his life," Kim said. "He's a good little traveller, too."

Jared put his arm around her shoulders and they walked back to the living room where everyone was finishing up.

"He okay?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. He must have just startled himself awake," Kim said, sitting back down with Jared.

"Okay," Abby nodded, putting her empty plate on the floor. She sat back into Paul's side, her eyes fluttering closed.

"You should go to bed, Abs," Paul said, gently sweeping her hair back off her face.

"No," Abby said, putting her arm around his waist. "I want to stay down here with you."

"We'll be heading out soon," Sam said. "We've got to run patrol and I want to make sure Emily's home safe before we go."

"You sure?" Abby said. "You're welcome to stay."

"No, thanks anyway, Abby, we've got to run this patrol," Sam said, with a meaningful look at his brothers.

"Yeah, we should go," Embry said.

"We'll clear up first," Jared said.

"We can do that," said Kim.

"No, you guys made dinner, we'll clean it up," he said. He nodded at Paul who gently extricated himself from Abby. The four werewolves gathered up the plates and glasses and took them through to the kitchen where they put them in the dishwasher.

"Time to go," Sam said to Emily who was starting to fall asleep in her own chair.

"Okay," she mumbled. Abby and Kim got up to walk them to the door and Emily hugged them both. "It was lovely meeting you both."

"You, too, Emily," Abby said. "You're welcome any time."

"Likewise," Emily said. "Hope I see Jimmy next time."

"You will," Kim said with a sleepy smile. "Promise."

"I'll come say goodnight when we finish patrol," Jared said.

"You don't have to," Kim said, "you're probably exhausted.

"I'll come say goodnight," he reiterated, kissing her cheek.

Paul hugged Abby. "I'll be with him," he told her. "Make sure you're okay."

"I'm sure my pillows won't be hurting me," Abby teased him.

"You don't know that – pillows can be dangerous fluffy suckers," said Paul. Behind him, his pack look stunned at the previously angry one of them. "They're looking at me, aren't they?" he asked Abby.

"Yeah," she said, chuckling.

"Right," she said. "See you in a few hours."

"You got it." Paul kissed her forehead and pushed passed the others. "What you lookin' at?" he demanded of them, giving Embry a shove on the shoulder.

"Me thinks there's something going on with them," Jared said, looking after his brother, then at the young woman staring after Paul.

"Me thinks you be right," Kim said. "I'll get it out of Abby if you get it out of Paul?"

"Deal." Jared kissed her. "Proper date next time, promise."

"You got it," Kim said. "Be safe. Look after him, you guys! Don't make me take Emily's muffins away from you!"

"Aww, man!" Embry whinged. Kim knew how to hit below the belt.

* * *

_So, what's going on with you and Abby? _Jared asked Paul after they had escorted Emily home and phased into their wolf forms.

_Shuddup, Jay, _Paul said.

_Oh, come on, Paul!_ Embry joined in. _There's something going on with you two! Even me, the unimprinted newbie, can see that._

_Paul, if you have imprinted, you need to tell us, _Sam said, his thought-voice as deep as his spoken one. _We can protect her better if we know._

_It's complicated, _Paul hedged.

_That's original, _Jared scoffed.

_Shove it, Lane, _Paul thought.

_Deee-fen-siiiiive! _Jared trilled.

_Jared, that's annoying for all of us, _Sam said. _Stop it._

_You got it, Alpha Chief._

They could hear Sam roll his eyes.

_Paul, have you imprinted on Abby? _Sam asked. _I'll ask you as your Alpha if I have to._

Jared and Embry cringed – hearing the tone of the Alpha made them all shiver from its power, even if it wasn't directed at them.

_Yes, _Paul said grudgingly.

_WHEN? _Jared said, tripping over his own feet trying to look at Paul as he ran.

_First time I met her after phasing, genius, _Paul said.

_Paul. Truth. All of it. Now. _Sam said.

_Fine, fine, _Paul thought, _just don't Alpha me, okay?_

Embry snorted as the thought passed through his brain, taking on dirtier connotations than Paul had meant.

_Ew! Embry! _Jared said.

_Someone burn my ears, please, _Paul added.

_Embry, we all have to share these thoughts, _Sam said. _For your sake, keep it clean._

_Sorry, guys. _Embry thought, still chuckling to himself. Paul crashed into him, sending the smaller wolf in a thorn bush.

_Ow! Owowowowow! _Embry thought. _Thorn! Thorn in the butt! Thorn in the butt! Sam!_

_Paul, don't push Embry into thorn bushes._

_He started it!_

_And you're the one that will have to extract those thorns!_

_Aw, what! But they're in his butt!_

_Who put them there._

_The bush._

_Paul._

_Fine, fine. Embry, stand still! I can't get them when you're prancing around like that!_

_I'm not prancing! And they hurt! You just wait 'til Jake phases – then I'll have someone on my side!_

_Ah, shut up, pup. Come 'ere! _Paul grabbed Embry with a swipe of his paw and pinned him to the ground. They both changed back into their human forms, and Sam and Jared snorted as Paul, distain on his face, sat on his hunches to get the thorn out of Embry's ass.

"Dude, you suck!" Embry said. "Bad enough having to be around a bunch of naked guys all the time without this _Brokeback _doctors and nurses shit!"

"Quit pissing me off then!" Paul said. "It's not like I'm enjoying having to pull things out of your ass!"

Howls of laughter surrounded them. Embry and Paul turned to see Jared and Sam cracking up, rolling with laughter in their human forms.

"I really hate you guys sometimes," Paul said, hauling Embry to his feet.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are we interrupting your time with Embry?" Jared said.

"Can we just get on with this please?" Paul said. Without waiting for anyone else to say something, Paul changed into his wolf form.

The others followed suit and Embry and Paul's minds were bombarded with images of Paul de-thorning Embry.

_You guys are nasty sometimes, you know that?_ Paul said.

_Whatever, Ennis! Or would you rather be Jack? _Jared said.

_It's so gay you even know that, _Paul said.

_Enough, children. _Sam joined the fray. _Giggles have been had, now we need to focus. Paul, tell us about you imprinting on Abby while we try and see if this new scent is around._

A couple of days ago they had come across a new scent – a vampire, something they hadn't come up against since the Cullens had left. But there hadn't been a fresh scent last night, just the day old one they had found before.

_What do you want to know? _Paul said morosely.

_Maybe when it happened? Why you didn't tell us? Why you don't want to tell us now? _Jared demanded – he and Sam had been jazzed when they imprinted, like shout from the rooftops jazzed.

_It happened about a month ago, _Paul said.

_A MONTH AGO! _Jared repeated.

_Do you want me to tell you, or do you want to interrupt, sounding like a chick? _Paul asked him.

_You may continue._

_Gee, thanks. _Paul rolled his eyes. _ANYWAY! It happened while you were off school, aka sulking over Kim._

_I wasn't sulking, _Jared began but Sam cuffed him around the ear to shut him up and let Paul continue.

_She knew we were friends and she wanted to know what was going on with you, since Kim was pretty miserable, too. That was it, bam, floor's gone and Abby's the centre of the universe for me. She called me up when Kim was at yours a couple of days ago when Kim ran off and Abby didn't see her for five hours. After an hour, Abby called me and I told her I had seen Kim go into your house. Then I went over there – she sounded like she needed someone and I wanted that someone to be me. That's it. _

_So, does she know everything? _Sam asked.

_No. She doesn't even know I imprinted on her, _Paul said, sounding tired and a little sad.

_Why not? _Embry asked, wondering how Paul had managed to keep that bombshell to himself – Jared and Sam sure hadn't been able to.

_Because that's not what she needs right now, _Paul said. _That's the point, right? To be anything your imprint needs you to be? Well, with her mom having run off with some loser, her dad in rehab, Kim's mom in hospital and living with Kim and a baby, I figured she didn't need anything else to deal with. It's not like Kim took the news well, and I didn't want to put that on Abby. She needs a friend right now, not a boyfriend, which means I'm keeping my mouth shut about how I feel about her until some of this is dealt with – like when her dad's back and Kim's mom is out of hospital. Like after graduation. And you all are keeping it to yourself, too! That's non-negotiable._

_But, don't you want to be with her?_ Jared asked. _You know, ro-man-tic-ally?_

_Yeah, of course I do! It's all I can think about, being with her, protecting her, giving her the life she wants. But what she wants isn't what she _needs. _She needs steady. She needs safe. Non-pushing and demanding. Meaning friend, not boyfriend. No complicated romancy stuff. Not until she wants it._

The other three didn't say anything. What was there to say? Paul's level of selflessness in the face of Abby's tumultuous home life was unprecedented. She was of an age when the relationship would be acceptable but he wasn't being with her like that.

_I can hear you thinking! _Paul thought-yelled. _And it's not selfless, _he thought, uncomfortable and self-conscious. _It's just...what Abby needs, okay?_

_Okay, _the other three thought.

_No telling the imprints, either,_ Paul said. _NO! _when Sam and Jared started 'um'ing and 'ah'ing. _Not unless you want never to be able to have children with them! _ Several images of what he would do to them floated up and they winced. They would have crossed their legs if they had been in human form. _Exactly, so keep it zipped._

_Man, you guys are so WEIRD! _ Embry said. _I NEVER want to imprint – it is sooooo not worth the headache._ Embry yelped as all three of his brothers cuffed him around the head.

_No being discouraging about the imprints, _Jared said.

_Is that an _official _command? _Embry asked him, getting cocky.

_It is from me, _Sam said.

_Oh, well, that's different then,_ Embry quieted.

_Come on, lets do this damn patrol so we can go home – my back's killing me after moving all that stuff, _Paul said.

_I told you to lift with your knees, not your back, _Jared said.

_Thanks, Mom, I'll be sure to do that next time!_ Paul snapped.

_Yees, imprinting sure didn't make you any happier, _Jared said.

Paul growled.

_Alright, alright, keep your fur on! _Jared huffed.

They didn't get the redhead's scent this time; they ran the line all the way to Canada but she wasn't anywhere near.

_What do you think she wants? _Paul asked, dragging his feet a little from exhaustion.

_No idea, _Sam said, _maybe it was a one-off. I don't like the idea of leaving her to run around hurting people but if we can't catch her...we'll just have to hope that we never see her again._

_But Sam!_ Embry said. Paul and Jared braced themselves for youthful naivety on saving the world. _She could hurt someone else! We can just leave her to do it!_

_Embry, _Sam said gently, _we can't save everyone. We protect our own. That's it._

_But Sam! What about the other people out there? If they die...that's on us! _Embry cried.

_Embry, go home, get some sleep, we'll talk about this in the morning, _Sam said gently but firmly.

_We'll talk about this _now!Embry growled.

_Embry, we will talk about this in the morning. Go home. _Embry whined slightly at the double timbre of the Alpha in Sam's voice, but in the end, he hung he head and broke away from the pack, loping off home.

As soon as they sensed him phase back into his human form, Jared said to Sam, _bit hard on him, weren't you? He was only asking what we were all thinking. We've all been where he's at, Sam. _

_I am well aware of that, Jared, _Sam said, a little more coldly than he normally would. _But he attempted to contradict me, I can't have that as Alpha not even from him._

_Not even from him? _Paul said. _Not even because he may be your little brother, you mean._

_Paul, go home, _said Sam, the Alpha tone creeping back in.

_Seeing a pattern here..._ Paul said, also peeling off.

_I'm going to say goodnight before you get rid of me too, _Jared said to Sam. _You okay, tonight, Sam?_

Damn telepathy, the thought came out even when Sam didn't want it to. Leaving the redhead to run around hurting people didn't sit well with Sam, but he had to protect his people. There just wasn't even of them to follow the redhead AND protect La Push. As Alpha, Sam had had to choose one or the other, and he made his choice. The deaths of anyone Red killed or turned was on Sam. It was a heavy burden, one Jared didn't envy, but Sam took right along with all the others on his shoulders.

_I'll see you tomorrow, Sam. Say thanks to Emily for me, _Jared nodded and loped off. By the time he got to Abby's house, Paul was already leaving, stood on the doorstep with his arms around Abby. She was very small compared to his pack brother, but was warmly cocooned in the hug.

Jared could only imagine how much it must be hurting Paul to have Abby so close but not with him.

"I'll see you later," Paul said, dropping a kiss on Abby's forehead. "Get some rest, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Abby stepped back smiling. "Still trying to take care of me?"

"Always," Paul said. He walked away, their hands still joined until the distance forced them to drop them. Paul looked up to see Jared walking towards him from the edge of the woods across from Abby's house. "Hey, man, saying goodnight to Kim?"

"You know it," Jared said, clapping Paul on the shoulder as they passed. "She still up?"

"She's waiting on you," Paul said.

Jared smiled, and Paul shook his head at him. "Three weeks ago I would have pity you for smiling at the thought of a woman waiting for you. Now...what's it like?"

Jared was forced to stop and turn at Paul's question. Paul was stood with his hands in his pockets, the want to know warring with how stupid asking made him feel. "What?" asked Jared, "having someone waiting for you just to say goodnight? You have Abby to do that, don't you?"

"Yeah, but – it's different," Paul said. "For one thing, she _knows_ you imprinted on her. Abby...I'm in the friend zone. I've never been here before with a girl. Hell, I've never had a relationship with a girl before."

"Huh," Jared was a little stunned by Paul asking his advice, especially for relationship advice, "well, it's nice...I mean it's more than that. It's...it's a good reason to come home. How did it feel when you saw Abby standing there?"

"Like it was the only thing I wanted to see when I got home for the rest of my life," Paul said.

"Yeah, that's about right," Jared nodded. "Paul, man, enjoy whatever you got while you got it. Red might kill us all the next time we come up against her, right?"

"Go say goodnight to your girl, Jay," Paul said, waving him goodbye and turning to walk home.

"Yeah, goodnight, Paul," Jared said.

"Hey!" Kim said, hugging him when he knocked on the door.

"Whoa! Hi!" Jared said. He would have staggered if he had been human at her exuberance. "I'm guessing you missed me."

"I did," Kim said. Jared picked her right up off the floor and she wrapped her legs around his waist to hold him with everything she had. "My werewolf boyfriend was patrolling for vampires after all." She sat back to look at him, his arms underneath her being the only things keeping her up. "There's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

Jared smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'm back now."

"Yay!" Kim said, smiling brightly, hugging him fiercely again. "So, you're okay? No broken bones? Cuts? Bruises? Vampire bites?"

"No," Jared laughed. "But you're welcome to look me for to make sure."

"Hmm, maybe in a few dates, Rocky," Kim said.

"Alright." Jared kissed her and put her back on the ground. "Well, goodnight, then."

"Night. Get back safe, okay?" Kim said.

"I'll will. You go on back inside 0 I want to know you're safe before I leave," Jared said.

"Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Maybe you could bring the pack and Emily over for breakfast? Your parents could come, too. Sort of as a thank you for today, before we go see my Mom," Kim suggested.

"That sounds real nice, you sure you don't mind?" Jared asked.

"No, course not," Kim said. She whispered conspiratorially. "That'll count as a second date, right?"

"Hell, yeah," Jared said, kissing her again.

"Night, baby," Kim said, kissing him one last time before going back in the house.

Jared waited a moment to hear the front door lock before running home.

"You're back!" Tally said, throwing her arms around him.

"Whoa, what is it with everyone throwing themselves at me today?" Jared said, laughing as he caught his mother. "How come you're up?"

"I was waiting up for you to come home," Tally said.

"Mom, you never wait for me to come home," Jared said, holding her at arms length. "You know I could be home any time between midnight and four am."

"I know," Tally said. "But you know, Emily said you guys were going after something tonight, not just patrolling but _looking _for something. I just wanted to make sure you made it home okay."

"I'm fine, Mom, really," Jared said, pulling her back close. "It's okay, Mom. I told you, I'd always come home, I promised."

"I know, sweetie, I know," said Tally, stroking his cheek. "But you need to know that's I'm your mother, you being a six and a half foot shape shifter ain't gonna change me worrying about you."

"Yes, ma'am," Jared said.

"Okay, bed now, darlin'," Tally said, kissing his cheek.

"Night, Mom," Jared said, kissing her forehead.

* * *

_Review, please!_


	19. Chapter 18

_Thank you to lovably17, Beachbunny24, happinie93, wolflover101canadian, laurazuleta18, DarkFireAngel100, Bratalia, McCbri-Cider, Forever Eternal Ice, and The all mighty and powerful for your reviews._

_Thank you to Kikomimo727, Orange Chicken Lover, bandbabe08sweet, eirbear63, and Pixie911Turbo for the favourites and cortneyluvsherownedward and Mzzvirgo for your story alert._

_Bit more about Abby in this chapter.

* * *

_

Chapter Eighteen

Kim laid the ingredients for breakfast on the side.

"Wow, that's a lot of food," Abby said, coming into the kitchen in her pyjamas tying up her hair.

"Yep, used some of next month's rent on it," Kim said. "I hope you don't mind."

"Why would I mind?" Abby asked.

"Because our rent might be a little behind," Kim said. "I'll get it back before the beginning of next month, though."

"But...we're in my house," Abby said slowly. "We have no rent."

"I'm talking about me, Mom and Jimmy, paying rent to live here," Kim said.

"Kim...you don't pay rent to live here," said Abby.

"But-"

"But, this house is my family's, we don't pay mortage, ergo, no rent," Abby said. "Besides, I was living rent-free with you guys for two months. And you _fed_ me."

"But that was different," Kim said.

"Not really. Look, you give me nothing until your mom is back at work, and then we'll call it even. After that," Abby shrugged. "We'll split the bills or something."

"But there's three of us and two of you," Kim said. "Shouldn't we pay more?"

Abby smiled, "I don't think Jimmy really counts. Besides, that's what family do, right? Split it between them? We'll figure it all out when our parents are back, but for now, save your money."

Abby, who was not nearly as strong as Jared, was knocked back a couple of steps when Kim threw her arms around her. "Hey, hey, easy!" Abby laughed. "What's this about?"

"You are a seriously wonderful person, Abby," Kim said. "I'm so lucky I met you. I'd stay here for you, if there was nothing else here, I'd stay for you."

Abby swallowed hard. That was a hell of a thing for Kim to say. "You mean that?"

"Yeah," Kim said, giving her a squeeze. "I figure, if we got each other, we're doing okay. Parents, boys, little brothers that don't sleep through the night – we can handle all that if we stick together."

Abby nodded. "You know, I really think we can."

Kim let go and they both laughed as they wiped a little moisture from their eyes.

"So, what are we making?" Abby asked, rubbing her hands together.

"Pancakes, bacon, eggs and sausage," Kim said. "Maple syrup is in the cupboard, fruit is in the bowl and needs to be cut up. I was going to make muffins but I figure no one can match Emily on that so I'm not even going to try."

Abby laughed. "Yeah, she's kind of a wonder, isn't she?"

"In the intimidating kind of way," said Kim. "I mean, she's the original wolf girl and she's perfect at it. So...how can I live up to Jared's expectations if Emily is the expectation?" Her eyes widened when she realised she'd let the secret slip.

Abby shrugged. "That's why I'm glad me and Paul are just friends. I don't know what'd I do if I became Paul's old lady."

"Old lady?" Kim laughed, glad Abby hadn't picked up on her slip.

"What? I've been watching Sons of Anarchy," Abby said. "And it seems to me that there's more to this whole Protector crap than meets the eye. Like boys that only wear shorts, and are out most of the night, _and _seem to have an affinity for the woods. _And _that become friends out of the blue after missing weeks of school and come back looking like bodybuilders."

Kim didn't say anything – she didn't know what to say.

"Look Kim," Abby said, leaning on the counter to look at her, "I don't know what's going on, but if there's something I _need_ to know, please tell me. Things may not be the same between me and Paul as it is between you two couples, but I do care about him, so...can you keep me in the loop?"

"Yeah, sure," Kim nodded. "I don't know what the loop is right now, but if there's something that going to impact Paul, I'll let you know."

"Even if Jared doesn't like it?" Abby asked.

"Jared doesn't make decisions for me," Kim said. "If you need to know, you'll know."

"Thanks, Kim."

"So, when did you and Paul start hanging out," Kim said.

"Well, you and Jared weren't talking and you were really upset, so when I bumped into Paul I talked to him about it. It was really weird, actually." Abby shrugged. "I guess I hadn't eaten that much that day because I felt all funny – lightheaded, you know? And I tried to take a step but it was like the world had tilted and I ended up falling and Paul caught me. After that, we just...got along, like we...fit together. Then a few days ago when you _disappeared for hours on end," _Abby bumped Kim with her hip, smiling, "he was the only person I could think to call. I didn't know anyone else and for some reason I just knew Paul would come through – I mean, he is Jared's friend after all."

"So," Kim was feeling off-balance, "you felt weird when you met Paul?"

"Yeah," Abby said slowly, not following Kim's line of questioning.

"Kind of like the floor fell out from underneath you?" Kim asked.

"Yeah," Abby said. "That's pretty much what it was like."

"And after that...did you think about Paul more than usual?" Kim asked, still trying to pretend to sound normal.

"I didn't think about him at all before, so I guess so," said Abby, shrugging. "Why?"

"Just...wondering," Kim said. "Sounds like Paul...means a lot to you." Kim had come dangerously close to saying 'imprinted on you' but pulled back at the last second. She needed to talk to Paul to see why, after a month, he hadn't told Abby anything.

"Yeah, he does," Abby said. "Don't even know how it happened to be honest."

"Don't worry, I get it," Kim said. "More than you think."

"Cool," Abby said. "So, when will they get here?"

"Should be here in about forty minutes, so we have time to lay the table and get the food cooked," Kim said. "Jimmy still asleep?"

"Yeah," Abby said. "I checked in on him. Baby monitor's on the side there," she said, nodding to the small white unit on the kitchen counter where she had come in.

"Okay, well, I'll get him up in time for breakfast," Kim said. "If I get leave you with this stuff?"

"Don't worry, I got it," Abby nodded.

"Alright, let's get going," Kim said, also tying up her hair and taking one of the two aprons Abby held out. "Thanks."

Abby had just laid the platter of bacon and sausage on the table when the front door bell rang. "Company's here!" she called up the stairs.

"Just in time," Kim said, coming down the stairs with Jimmy in her arms, clean clothes and rosy cheeks from a scrubbing. "I'll never know how he gets so dirty in one day," she said, gently tugging Jimmy's shirt into place and smoothing his hair. As always, the stubborn spikes stuck straight up again as soon as her hand was clear. "Little boy, you need hair gel," she said to Jimmy.

"Spiky hair," Jimmy said, pushing Kim's hand away.

"Alright, alright, now, best behaviour, Jim-bug, we got people eating with us today," Kim said. Jimmy shook his head giggling. Kim rolled her eyes, and the door bell rang again. Abby whipped off her apron and opened the door.

"Hi, guys!" she said, "come on in, breakfast's all laid out ready." She stood back and Sam, Emily, Embry, Paul, Paul's mom, Jared, Tally and George all came in.

"Hi," Abby said to Paul's mom. "I'm Abby, this is Kim and Jimmy."

"Nice to meet you all," Paul's mom said. "I'm Celeste. It was certainly a bit of a surprise when Paul said we'd been invited to breakfast."

"We're glad to have you," Kim said, coming down the rest of the stairs.

"Hi!" Jimmy said loudly, reaching for Celeste.

"Oh, hi," Celeste said, a little taken aback when Jimmy took hold of her, determined to be held.

"Sorry," Kim said, "he loves new people – going to be a nightmare teaching him Stranger Danger."

"Well, that was no problem with Paul," Celeste said, settling Jimmy on her hip. "He hated everyone."

They all laughed.

"I didn't hate everyone," Paul said. "I just didn't like...people." They laughed harder. "Are we eating or what?" he demanded.

"We're eating. This way," Abby said, leading everyone through to the dining room.

"Wow, this is some spread," George said.

"Thank you," said Kim.

"It doesn't look like you need them, but we still brought these," Emily said, holding out the famous muffins.

Kim and Abby shared a look and burst out laughing.

"You don't have to take them," Emily said, looking at them confused.

"No, no, thank you for the muffins," Kim said, taking them. "Before you came I was saying how I wasn't going to make muffins because I couldn't make them as good as yours."

"Oh, well, thank you," Emily said. "I'm glad you like them."

"Everyone, help yourselves," Abby said. "You don't have to stand on ceremony."

"Excellent," Embry said, vaulting into a chair and grabbing a plate. He loaded up with food until Sam cuffed his shoulder.

"Hey, save some for everyone else, pup," the Alpha commanded.

"Sit down and have some, then!" Embry said with his mouth full of scrambled eggs.

They took their seats and everyone helped themselves. Kim was surprised at the relationship between Paul and his mom – they were obviously close but Paul was a different person with her. He laughed more, did dumb stuff just to make her smile. Celeste was always getting him more food, or refilling his glass, stroking his hair or his cheek, smiling at him. That smile seemed to make Paul happy.

Jimmy was having a whale of a time – there was lots of food, lots of people; all of the big, warm people that came around were here. He had his own room! It was a little strange, a little scary waking up and not seeing Kim or Mommy when he opened his eyes, but then Kim came in and the day went on as it always had. He liked this place. It smelt nice, not like some of the other places they had been.

Jimmy banged his chubby fists on his high chair. "Out!" he said.

"Excuse me? Out, _please," _Kim corrected gently.

"Out, _please,"_ Jimmy said.

Kim got up and plucked Jimmy out of his seat. But before she could settle him on her lap, he wriggled to the floor, walked to Jared and heaved himself up onto Jared's lap. "Hi, Jay Jay!"

"Hey, Jim-bug, how's it going," Jared said, putting one arm loosely around Jimmy's waist in case he fell.

"Good, Jay Jay," Jimmy said. "Jay Jay, whose that?" Jimmy pointed out Paul, Celeste, Sam, Emily and Embry. Of course, he had either been asleep or with Tally when they had helped with the moving so had never met these people before.

"That's Paul, Paul's mom Celeste, Sam, Emily, and Embry," Jared said, pointing them out and saying their names slowly for him. Jimmy repeated each name after Jared had said it.

"People!" Jimmy crowed, clapping his hands. The others smiled and laughed at the toddler's enthusiasm.

After breakfast, Jared put his arms around Kim as she did the washing up. "Hey," he said, nuzzling her neck.

"Hey," she said, laughing and moving out of the way. "You okay?"

"Yeah. That was a great breakfast," Jared said.

"Thank you," said Kim.

"Do you want to go out tonight?" he asked. "I mean, your mom's in surgery, I thought you might want to take your mind off it."

"I honestly don't think anything will get my mind off it," said Kim heavily. "But I would like to go out, if we can."

"Sure. Maybe my mom can take Jimmy so Paul and Abby can hang out," Jared suggested.

"They might like that," Kim said. "Abby cares so much for Leanne she might want the distraction."

"I'll ask them," Jared said, kissing her cheek and going to make the arrangements.

* * *

"Hey, Mom," Kim said, feigning brightness. Once more, she put Jimmy on the bed next to Leanne and took a seat next to them. Abby pulled the chair close to the bed and sat down.

"Hey, there are my babies!" Leanne said. "Come here, I want big hugs." Leanne held out her arms and pulled the three of them close. "Mmmm, there you all are. How are you?"

"Well, we made a huge breakfast for everyone," said Kim, "and then we came here."

"Oh, don't talk about food," Leanne said, putting her hand to her stomach. "They're not letting me eat because of the surgery later today."

"Oh, poor Mom," Kim said, patting her hand, laughing softly. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you seem real choked up," Leanne said wryly, eyeing her daughter.

"We promise to bring you lots of food when the surgery's done, okay?" Kim said. "Abby's a whizz in the kitchen."

"I am?" Abby asked. "Oh, I am!" she said, looking at Leanne nodding. "I cut up fruit like a ninja!"

Leanne and Kim started to laugh. "That has got to be the strangest damn saying I have ever heard!" Kim said.

"I thought it was quite inventive," Abby said, her nose in the air.

Leanne and Kim laughed hard, Abby joining in.

There was a knock at the door and Dr. Gerandy came in to see the three women smiling on the bed, Jimmy amongst them. "Hello. It's nice to see you all in such good spirits."

"Hey, doctor, we all set?" asked Kim.

"Your mother's surgery is scheduled for four o'clock this afternoon," Dr. Gerandy said. "She'll be out of it tomorrow but you should be able to talk to her in a couple days when you come and see her."

"Two days," Kim repeated. "That's a long time for her to be out, isn't it?"

"It's to be expected," Dr. Gerandy said reassuringly.

"So, when will I come around?" Leanne asked.

"Anaesthetic will wear off after a few hours, in the middle of the night. You'll be groggy for a while, but by the time visiting hours come around, you'll be able to talk to your kids. You'll tire easily for a few days but this time next week you should be up and about."

"But not walking," Leanne said.

"No, but you'll be ready to work up to it," Dr. Gerandy said.

"And in a couple of weeks I can go home," Leanne said.

"Yes, you can," Dr. Gerandy confirmed, "but you'll need to rest and you'll have to come in for regular checkups. The stitches will need to come out in a week and the bandages changed every day to prevent infection."

"But I'll be in hospital for that?" Leanne asked.

"Yes, you will," said the doctor. "By the time you go home the incision will have healed."

"So, when I go home, what exactly is there to do?" Leanne asked.

"Continue your physiotherapy; work on regaining your strength." Dr. Gerandy looked at the girls and Jimmy. "How are you guys at home? Do you have someone looking after you?"

"We've got people looking out for us while Leanne gets better," Abby said. "They're dropping in every day, making sure we're okay."

"Well, that's fine," Dr. Gerandy said. "Protocol dictates that we tell the social services."

"Have you told them already?" Kim asked sharply.

Dr. Gerandy looked at her. "They'll be dropping round sometime this week to assess the situation."

"Okay, that's fine," said Kim. They'd be ready.

"We have to prep your mother for surgery now, girls," Dr. Gerandy said. "I'm afraid you'll have to say goodbye."

Leanne squeezed Kim and Abby's hands. "Okay, girls, off you go and I'll see you in two days, okay?"

"We only just got here," Kim said.

"Doctor's orders, darlings, time to go," Leanne said.

"Bye, Mom," Kim said.

"See you in a couple," said Abby.

"Mommy!" Jimmy threw himself at Leanne and Kim and Abby piled on to hug her. She kissed each of them in turn. "Off you go, go on. I'll be fine."

Kim picked up Jimmy and left the room with Abby, all three women pretending they weren't crying.

* * *

"Suddenly I don't feel like going out," Abby said, slumping on the sofa.

Kim said down a little more carefully due to the fact that she was carrying Jimmy but had the same tiredness in her movements. "I know what you mean," she said, settling Jimmy with his back against her stomach. "Seems like every time me and Jared try to go on a date something comes up."

"Maybe you should go out then," Abby said. "Finally, officially, start this relationship."

"Maybe," Kim shrugged. "I might take Jimmy over there if you want to invite Paul over. We can both have our guys without having to get all dressed up."

"Sounds like a plan," Abby said. There was a pause before she asked, "you scared?"

"Terrified," Kim said.

"Not just me then."

"Nope."

"Doesn't make me feel any better," Abby said.

"It really doesn't, does it," said Kim.

Abby let out a slow breath. "I know I just told you to go out, but can we stay together tonight?" she said. "I really don't want to be alone."

Kim slumped until her head was on Abby's shoulder. "Me neither."

Abby put her arm around Kim's shoulders, the other hand taking Jimmy's tiny one.

"I can't imagine what will happen if she doesn't make it," Kim said.

"Don't do that, Kim," said Abby firmly. "Don't go there."

"But it's possible," said Kim said.

"No, it's not," Abby said sternly. "It's going to be fine. Dr. Gerandy is calling us tomorrow to tell us it all went fine."

Kim nodded. "Okay. I just can't lose her."

"I know," Abby said, stroking Kim's hair.

"What was it like when your mom left?" Kim asked.

"Weird. One part of me was angry at her for doing that to us. Another part was hurt that she could just leave me behind like that. Another part was relieved that all the bullshit was finally over, that she had just made a decision and stuck to it for once. That the endless parade of my mom cheating and my dad drinking and me trying to pretend that it didn't affect me was over," said Abby.

"Sounds sucky. At least wherever I went I had my family," Kim said. "You...Abby, you had no one. How did you manage? I would have given up."

Abby shrugged. "Grew up like it. Truth be told, I thought all families were like that for a while. That maybe my grandparents had grown out of it or something – I longed for the days when my parents would be like that. Then, bam, beginning of the school year and I come home to find some asshole in my living room and my mom packing her bags. He was sat right here," Abby said, patting the sofa.

"I would have burned the damn thing," Kim said, looking at the sofa with disgust as though the imprint of that home wrecker was there.

"Nah, had a lot more good memories than that bad one," Abby said. "This is where my granddad taught me to read while my dad was at work. Where my Gran used to watch Saturday cartoons with me because she was too sick to work in the garden like she used to," Abby said, tears burning her eyes. "I used to watch all the sports with my dad; I'd stay awake until he came home from work late on Friday nights so we could watch the football game I'd recorded earlier. I used to end up watching every game twice; once with my granddad while it recorded, then again later with my dad. I never minded, and I never told him what happened. I just liked being with him. We'd sit here, him holding me, me holding my bear. By the time I was six I knew the stats of every major player in the NFL, the positions of the players, who was making it to the Championship. My grandparents and dad thought it was funny, taking me to the sports bars and hearing me talking to all these guys who held season tickets. And they'd listen to me, you know," Abby said, looking at Kim. "Thirty-something year olds, listening to a young girl in frilly ankle socks because she knew what she was talking about and they knew that."

Kim wiped the tears from Abby's cheeks. "Where was your mom in all this?"

Abby sniffed. "Sometimes she was there, when she was going through a 'let's give this a try and be a mom' phase again. But most of the time she was going her own way. I heard her tell my dad once that she had given him what he wanted, it was only fair that she get a turn to enjoy herself now. Which meant screwing anyone she wanted to, didn't matter that she was married, if they were married. She just didn't care."

"Do you think she'll ever come back?" Kim asked.

"When she's bored of whatever she's doing and wants a home again," said Abby.

"What will you do if she comes back?" asked Kim.

"Tell her to fuck off?" Abby suggested. "Growing up I tried to make excuses for her and when I couldn't I'd just say, 'well, she's my mom, I gotta forgive her'. Now...I got you guys; Leanne's going to need looking after; my dad's going to be out of rehab soon; Jimmy still only two. I just don't want her here causing drama and making a tough situation unbearable. Because that's my mom," Abby said, running her fingers through her hair. "She thrives on drama and attention. It has to all be about her, all the time. God help her if someone needs her to be there for them for a split second; I think she'd go into shock, quickly followed by attention-withdraw."

"She sounds like a right bitch," said Kim.

"Yeah. She'll be back when she wants Dad – whatever she did, he always took her back, gave her attention when no one else would. I thought he was a chump," Abby said. "I was hard on him. I hated him for letting my mother do what she did and take it back."

"It's always easier to be hard on the people around you," Kim said. "I was a bitch to my mum. Still am sometimes. Try to not take my shit out on her but..."

"Yeah, I know," Abby said.

"Did you call your dad like you said you would," Kim asked.

"Yeah," Abby nodded, "he cried. He was so happy just to hear from me that he cried." More tears ran down her face. "That's all he wanted, to talk to me. God, I miss him so much!"

Kim shifted so she could keep Jimmy steady while she hugged Abby hard. "It's okay, Abby. We'll make it right, kid."

Abby leaned on Kim, hiccupping and sniffling. Jimmy shuffled around until he was facing Abby then started to copy Kim's movements, stroking Abby's face and hair – as much as he could reach. His efforts made her laugh huskily, and she hugged the little boy tight, so very thankful for the naive unselfishness of a two year old.

"Tell me your favourite memory," Kim said.

"What do you want me to tell you?" asked Abby.

"Your favourite – anything, whatever you want."

"Okay." Abby thought for a moment. "Well, when I was five, I remember my grandparents and parents and I went to California. I think they knew my grandmother wasn't going to last much longer and wanted to have one last vacation with her. We rented this condo on the beach for a week. For seven days, I woke up to the sound of the ocean, the seagulls. My Gran was too weak to really move around so much, so we spent a lot of time on the decking out front; we'd eat meals out there, we watched seven sunsets on that deck. We played cards and drank ice tea and told stories. It was the five of us and I thought it was perfect. I was too little to understand that in six months my grandmother would be dead, that in nine so would my grandfather. That my mom slept with the guy in the condo next to us, and was caught by my dad and that's when he started drinking when he was sad. It was my favourite memory, because I didn't know all that. I had my family, I was happy. Every morning I'd wake up, run down to the ocean and dance in the waves."

"Sounds nice," Kim said. "I mean, not the stuff that you didn't know but the memory sounds also perfect."

"It was," Abby said. "We should go there one day."

"We will," Kim said, leaning against Abby. "All of us. If your dad doesn't mind going."

"I don't think he will," Abby said. "He liked that week, too. Being with his family, away from everything else. So lovely, so bittersweet," she said softly, mostly to herself.

They sat there for a long time, Jimmy eventually falling asleep in their laps. They didn't want to move but got hungry as time wore on, so they were pretty grateful when Paul and Jared, having being given the night off by Sam, turned up with arms full of Chinese food.

* * *

_Review please!_


	20. Chapter 19

_Guys, we're going French! (Keep it clean!) No, what I mean is that IshaLane has asked to translate this story into French! WOO! We're going international, people! I've been doing a happy dance for about three days now! _

_Join me in my happy dance! But only after you review. Those that do not review do not get to dance – it's only fair! (You can tell I'm a little over-excited by this, can't you? LOL)

* * *

_

Chapter Nineteen

There are two types of people in the world; those that can't eat because of their nerves, and those that can't stop. Kim was one, Abby was the other. While Kim kept picking up the same mouthful, sighing, and then letting the chopsticks fall back into the carton before the food got anywhere near her mouth, Abby made Paul's jaw drop by putting away nearly as much as he did, albeit over several hours. Jared tried to coax Kim into eating only to give up for a while when she shook her head slowly. She felt bad for making him worry but her stomach was churning and the smell alone was making her nauseous. Abby on the other hand was doing an impression of a bear preparing to hibernate. She ate slowly, but she kept eating. Kim walked Jimmy around and around the living, staring at things only she could see. She bounced and rocked him in her arms. Jared made himself dizzy trying to follow her movements before giving up and leaving her to that as well. She wouldn't eat because her asked to, and she wouldn't stop walking because he asked her to.

Abby's gaze followed her, too, but she eventually put her plate down and curled into Paul's side. Warm and full, Abby fell into a troubled sleep as Paul held her.

"Kim, baby, come on," Jared said, putting his hands on her shoulders and finally stopping her. It was close to midnight. Jimmy had fallen asleep hours ago, as had Abby and Paul curled up together on the sofa. "It's time to go to bed."

"No," Kim said, detached as though she wasn't really talking to him. "No, I have to stay up. My mum might need me."

"Kim, your mum's in hospital, there's nothing you can do, let's go to bed. You need to sleep," Jared said coaxingly.

Kim closed her eyes and when she opened them they had lost the eerie blank look that had worried him so much. "Will you stay with me tonight?" she asked, sounding scared, and younger than she ever had before. "Don't leave me." She rested her head on his chest and Jared put his arms around her, cocooning Jimmy and her both.

He rested his chin on top of her head. "Of course I will. I won't leave you." Jared leant down and looped his arm under Kim's knees to pick her up, steady so Jimmy wouldn't get jostled. He poked Paul in the leg with his foot; Paul woke with a start, his arms tightening around Abby protectively, instinctively. He gave a sleepy nod and likewise picked up his own imprint, following Jared up the stairs.

"That's Abby's room," Kim pointed sleepily. "This is mine, Jimmy's is next door."

"See you in the morning," Jared said to Paul.

"Night, man." Paul got the door opened and walked into the darkened room, closing the door behind him.

In Kim's room, Jared put her on the bed and tried to take Jimmy out of her arms. But she moved the toddler out of his way, "no. I want him with me tonight."

"Okay." Jared kissed her head. Kim went into the nursery to change Jimmy for bed while Jared stripped out of his jeans and T-shirt, leaving him to sleep in his boxers. He got into bed and waited for Kim to come back. She came in, Jimmy still sleeping, and handing her brother to Jared so she could change for bed. Jared looked down at the sleeping child but still looked up a couple times to see Kim pulled off her jeans, T-shirt and bra and pull on a long nightshirt over her panties. She came back to the bed, laid Jimmy on the mattress, curling her body around his. Jared was unsure how close she would let him get until Kim reached behind her, taking his hand and pulling him to spoon. Jared shifted a little, getting Kim to rest her head on his arm, the other one laying over her and resting to cover Jimmy's belly.

"You're really warm," Kim said.

"Sorry," Jared said, moving away a little.

Kim stopped him. "No. It's good. I'm always too cold when you're not with me."

"Then I'll just have to be next to you always," Jared said, kissing her neck.

"That sounds good," Kim said. "I love you, Jay."

"I love you too, Kim." He listened as her breathing slowed as she fell asleep.

* * *

Moving quietly through the house they had recently vacated, the man in dark clothing ran his fingers along the surfaces, pawing through the things left behind. But none of it belonged to the Baileys. They were expert at moving, staying hidden – didn't leave a thing behind. The furniture wasn't theirs; there were no scraps, not rubbish. He sighed. Only one thing left to do.

"Hey, Carl, this is-"

"I know who this is. Who else would it be? Who the fuck else has this number?"

Carl Bailey was not a man who liked his time wasted. He didn't like a lot of things. Runaway wives that took his child from him for instance. "Are they there?"

"Not anymore, boss," the man in dark clothes said. "Looks like they packed up and left again."

"You should have gotten there sooner."

"I found them as fast as I –"

"I don't want your excuses, I want my family," Carl hissed.

A tremor of fear ran down the man's spine. He didn't know how he got into this mess. Twelve years ago he was a cop with a busted knee, starting his own Private Investigator business because an injury in the line of duty forced his retirement from the force at twenty-fucking-_four. _His first client: a fellow cop, looking for a woman on the run. She had a kid with her. Carl wanted to make sure she was okay.

So, he took the job. It wasn't until he saw the ten o'clock news about that woman and child being found beaten to unconsciousness in their motel room that he realised what he had been a part of. By that time, it was far too late to walk away.

The kid had been in hospital for a long time – fractured skull, lacerations over her arms and face. Broken wrist. Fractured femur.

The mum had a dislocated shoulder, broken elbow. And a child in hospital.

While the news had been on, he had stopped to watch it, numb. As soon as it had finished he had rushed to the bathroom and thrown up. So many years ago.

Why had he kept helping Carl? Because he had a mother with dementia at sixty-two, hospital bills coming out of his ass, and a violent psychopath that knew where each and every member of his large extended family was.

So, yeah, he found the woman and girl each time. Some would call it evil. He called it Darwinism. Sure, he had tried to do the good thing when he had found out, when Carl came back to him to find them again. The next day his godfather had been killed in a hunting accident. The guy was a Buddhist. Carl played him the tape of Papa Neil begging him not to kill him. Then there was a gunshot and silence. Tears had streamed down his face at the sound of Papa's voice. Then Carl had asked him if he was going to help him. He tried to tackle Carl but Carl had more experience, more bulk, and no busted knee; he had moved aside easily, grabbing him and slamming his head into his desk. Then Carl had asked him again, 'are you going to help me?'. Hating himself, he had nodded.

He had gone to Papa Neil's funeral. Papa's wife and children were inconsolable. His eldest daughter was eight months pregnant. His widow kept asking why it had happened. Already wasted on cheap whiskey, he hadn't said anything. Just watched as the coffin was lowered into the ground, more tears, tears he didn't deserve to shed, wetting his cheeks.

If Carl was ever arrested, he would go down to. Accessory to stalking, battery and assault, child abuse. Rape.

Once, he had been the good guy. Now, he was just...a guy.

"They aren't here, Carl," he said. "I don't know where they are. They're good at getting away from you. Why can't you just leave them alone?"

Carl sighed. "We've been through this all before, kid. I have to protect my family."

"By putting them in hospital?" he demanded.

"They still haven't learned," Carl said. The scary thing was, he sounded reasonable. Or at least, like he thought he was being reasonable. "Not getting cold feet on me, are you? Because you know how I've had to teach you a lesson on protecting your family before now. Let's not have another Papa Neil on our hands, shall we?"

"Don't _ever _say his name, Carl. Not ever!"

"Enough," Carl said, cutting through his outburst. "Where are they?"

"I don't know," he ground out.

"Well, you'll need to find out," Carl said. "Or I may have to pay a visit to little Deacon's fifth birthday party. Introduce myself to the family. Tell them what you've done. I don't think your nice Irish Catholic family will be too happy with you, will they?"

"I know I'm going to burn in hell – it's what I deserve – but I won't let your filth touch my family."

"Filth? That's a little harsh. I am trying to find my wife and child. Louise needs her husband to lead her, Jacqueline needs a father to raise her. Now, where are they?"

"They've moved on, I told you," he said through gritted teeth.

"Fine, I'm on my way to you. Clearly, you also need direction." Carl hung up.

He leant against the wall. Goddammit. Why did he keep doing this? Because he was scared for his family, overwhelmed by Carl. And because this had been his life to twelve years. No point getting a fucking bleeding heart now. He never contacted them before Carl got to them. They slipped through his fingers and _his _family paid the price. Darwinism. Simple.

Until now. Darwin didn't matter for shit now.

He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. Name, number and address for the Chief of Police for La Push and Forks, two towns apparently too small to warrant a Chief of Police each.

Too late for the bleeding heart, maybe there was still the opportunity for some backbone.

Because here was a little something Carl didn't know. That rape had resulted in a son. The one thing he wanted more than anything. He had already let the mum and the girl get fucked up, but that kid was still salvageable.

The man in black got into his car and drove into the next town. He drove up to a non-descript house, no different from its neighbours a little distance down the road. He knocked on the front door. "Chief Swan?"

The man that opened was his mid-thirties, a bit overweight, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and looking pretty annoyed. "It's two in the morning, what is it?"

"Chief Swan, my name is Adam Donnelley. I'd like for you to arrest me."

"Yeah, sure, I'll just get my handcuffs. Look, it's the middle of the night, what do you want?"

"To be arrested. My help led to the series of beatings sustained by Louise and Jacqueline Bailey over the last dozen years. I have all the information in the car. A man is coming for them."

"Why now?" the Chief asked him. "Why come forward now?"

"My situation has recently...changed. Atonement's out of the question but I'm not looking to add murder to my list of sins. If Carl Bailey finds his wife and daughter – find that they didn't tell him he had a son – he'll kill them."

"Jesus." The police officer ran his fingers through his hair. "Alright, we're doing this proper. We need to go down to the Police station. Here," the Chief took his handcuffs from a hook by the door.

"You don't have to do that," Adam said. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You've just told me that me your party to a lifetime of beatings for two women. Like I'm going to trust you. Your hand, please."

Adam held out his hand and the Chief handcuffed him to the radiator in the hall.

"I'll be back in two minutes. Don't move."

"You got it, Chief."

Charlie shook his head and went upstairs. In his room, he pulled on his uniform and left a note by the bed of the dark haired teenager sleeping in the next room. His daughter. His Bella. She had finished screaming for the night and was now slumbering fitfully. If anyone put their hands on her, he'd take a hatchet to them; Edward Cullen the next time he saw the little bastard, for instance. For everyone else, he had to use the Law.

Downstairs, he saw the guy hadn't moved.

"Alright, let's do this." Uncuffing him, Charlie let Adam turn his back to him and put his hands behind his back while Charlie Mirandized him. "You understand all that?"

"Yeah. I used to be a cop. Guy that's coming is a cop, too."

"Jesus H. Christ in Almighty Heaven," Charlie said. "Impossible as it seems, my estimation of you just plummeted from rock bottom to the depths of hell."

"Yeah. Try living with it. You get a taste for whiskey. Can't sleep any other way."

"Cry me a river," the Chief said, getting him into the back of the police car.

"I just –"

"Save your sob stories for someone else," the police chief said, getting into the front and starting the engine. He sounded hard. Cold. Adam was willing to bet he didn't usually. There were laughter lines around his eyes. Adam had frown lines and shot nerves.

At the station, on the Chief's desk, Adam saw some paperwork for a 'Leanne Lincoln'. The photo was of Louise Bailey.

"You know her?" Adam asked.

"Yes."

"That's the woman that's going to die," Adam said.

"This guy's coming after Leanne?" the Chief looked ill. It was always the way when it was someone you knew.

"And her daughter. Won't stop until he finds them."

"From the top." The Chief put a tape recorder on the table and pressed play and record simultaneously.

"My name is Adam Patrick Gordon Donnelley, born Chicago, Illinois, October 7th, 19-. I first met Carl Bailey when he wanted me to find a woman and her young daughter. I was a Private Investigator, formerly a cop, and he was a cop that needed a favour he was willing to pay for. So I found them. Over the next few years, I had to find them again and again. I figured that he was checking up on a victim of one of his old cases or something. He could have done it himself but I thought that he couldn't get too involved – bureaucracy and all that. So, I did it – I found them. Then I watched the news one night; they were on it. That lady and her little girl, by that time, eleven years old. Reminded me of my niece. She was in hospital, beat up real bad. Her mum was hurt, too, but less than the kid. I contacted an old friend who pulled up their medical records. Every time I had found them, they had spent time in hospital. No exception. Not even for the littlun. I'd spent time finding them, gotten to understand them, if not know them since they've never had a conversation with me – never even knew I was there – and they were good people. The lady was a real sweetheart and her daughter adored her. I told Carl I wasn't going to help him anymore. He killed my godfather."

"Do you have proof of that?" the Chief interrupted.

"I don't, but he does. He likes to use it when he thinks I'm 'getting out of line'."

"What is it?" the Chief asked.

"A tape recording of my godfather's finally moments. Then Carl's says, 'Adam, you know this is because of you'. Then there's a gunshot. And nothing."

The Chief took a deep breath. "Continue," he said, trying to be professional.

"After that, I got it. You don't walk away from Carl Bailey. And he never leaves you. So, in the last six years I've found Louise and Jacqueline another five times. One time, three years ago, Carl raped her. It resulted in a son."

"How did you find this out?"

"I kept my own tabs on them," Adam said, "without telling Carl – medical records. So, I knew. I knew what he had done and then I knew when she was brought in and her and the baby were treated nine months later."

"Wait, the baby wasn't born at the hospital?" the Chief asked.

"No. I told him when Louise Bailey turned up in the system again three days ago but he never knew to look for a son."

"He doesn't have the medical records?"

"He doesn't care what they've been through, he only cares where they are. From what I can figure, the girl, Jacqueline, helped her mother deliver the baby. So, she came back on the system again, Louise, after a long time. Carl contacted me to find them."

"Why does he need you? How can he know when they get flagged?" the Chief asked, trying to get all the information.

"I honestly don't know. He's not on the force anymore so maybe he has someone other than me helping him. All I know is that he knows that when they use their real names, but he doesn't know where."

"That makes no sense."

"Preaching to the choir here, Chief. Nothing this man does makes sense. But, he's on his way. They must have used their real names again."

"They did," Chief Swan said coldly. "Louise Bailey was admitted to hospital three days ago. Today she underwent brain surgery."

"Shit. Is she okay?"

"We don't know yet. She's hasn't woken up."

"And her kids?"

"They're safe."

"Not that you're going to tell me where," Adam said wryly.

"No. Continue."

"That's it, really. I helped him to it all. Without me, those two would have had been able to rebuild their lives. The boy would never have existed, though."

"You'll have to excuse me that I don't pat you on the back for that one," the Chief said stonily.

"It's fine," Adam said. "I deserve worse than hard words."

"You're right, you do," said the Chief. "So, why now? What did you decide to come clean now?"

"Last attempt at redemption," Adam said. The Chief frowned at him and he shrugged, "Irish Catholic with aggressive lung cancer. Got three months to live, thought I could spend them doing something good for a change."

"Doesn't make up for everything else you've done," said Swan.

"No, it doesn't. But that's it. I chose to come forward now, for no other reason than I did because I chose now. Doesn't make sense to you, doesn't make sense to me, but it will stop Carl from hurting them again. That's all I want."

"Fine, end of interview." Chief Swan pressed the stop button. He sighed. "Terminal cancer patient. The DA will never take this to trial."

"But you have a job to do," Adam said, understanding.

"And I'll get a sick sense of pleasure doing," Chief Swan said.

"That's fine. Just make sure he doesn't get to them. He'll be here tomorrow."

"I know my job, Donnelley." Chief Swan stood up and took him to the jail cells. Then he took the car to Abby's house where the Lincolns were living now. Knocking on the door, Charlie waited for someone to open the door.

A burly six and a half foot linebacker was not what he was expecting. "Chief?"

"Hi, Paul, how's it going?"

He shrugged. "Not getting arrested anymore," he said.

"I know," Chief Swan said. "I was always on the one putting the handcuffs on you, remember?"

"Unfortunately."

"How's your mum?"

Paul smiled. "Good. A bit more relaxed now she isn't spending most of her time kicking my ass."

"Good to hear. Is Kim in, I really need to speak with her."

"Is it about that dickhead father of hers?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, you know about that?"

"Yeah," said Paul. "She talked to us .Well, she's with Jared who told us with her permission. We're all looking out for her."

"Fine," Charlie nodded. Nothing was getting past the La Push boys these days. "Can I see her please?"

"Sure." Paul opened the door and let Charlie in, jogging up the stairs and waking everyone up. "Let's go. Police downstairs."

"That's not funny, Paul," came the sleep-roughened voice of Jared Lane.

"I'm serious, Charlie's here about your girl's father," said Paul.

"Oh, shit, right." There was the sound of a closing door. Then the sound of a couple of doors opening and a little procession came down the stairs – Kim holding Jimmy with Jared's arm around them, Paul helping a sleepy Abby down after them.

"Hi, Kim," Charlie said kindly.

"Hey, Chief, can I get you something?" Kim asked.

"I just need to talk to you," Charlie said.

"Why don't I put the kettle on while you put the baby back to bed?" Abby said to Kim, who nodded and took Jimmy back upstairs now it looked like this wasn't going to be a five minute visit.

They sat around the kitchen table, Abby laying out cups while they waited for Kim. She came back just as Abby poured everyone camomile tea. She stand down gratefully, and took a sip.

"So, he's back, huh?" said Kim, looking down at her cup.

"Kim, tonight I arrested a man who had helped your father find you for the last twelve years," Charlie said. "He came to me, told me everything. Carl will be here tomorrow."

"Tomorrow as in later today since it's four in the morning, or tomorrow as in past midnight?" Abby said. She hated it when people say 'tomorrow' in the early hours of a day, it could mean anything.

"Donnelley said that he was catching the first flight to Seattle. I checked the airport. That will get him to Seattle four o'clock this afternoon. He'll be at La Push by six at the latest."

Charlie let them digest that.

"And, my – my mum?" Kim said. "She's in hospital, no one's protecting her."

"My next stop is the hospital – their security will focus on her, my deputy will be stationed there as well," Charlie said. "I'll be here with you in La Push. I'm going to need the help of your Protectors though," he said to Paul and Hared with only a hint of irony.

"So, now we're useful? Not just 'kids who are going to get themselves in over their heads'?" Paul asked, leaning back in his seat, his arms folded. But he was smiling at Charlie.

"No, you're still that," Charlie said, returning the smile, "but I figure you won't stand on the sidelines for this, so I need you to have Kim and Jimmy with you, okay? I don't know what Carl knows or how this is going to play out so I'd rather not take chances."

The teenagers around him nodded.

"Does he know about Jimmy?" Kim asked Charlie. "Did that guy...?"

"No," Charlie said, shaking his head. "He knew but he never told your father. I think he did a lot to make sure Carl never knew about him."

"Oh." Then, "can I meet this guy?"

"Maybe, Kim," Charlie said gently. "But not now. We'll get through the next few days, and then we can talk about it."

"Okay," Kim nodded. She was shaking like a leaf. Jared tugged her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "I'd like to go to bed now I think."

"Alright," Charlie said. "I'll let you go. Are you guys...staying here tonight?" he asked Paul and Jared.

"Uh, yeah," Jared said.

"Everyone's over eighteen now, Charlie," Paul said.

"Yeah, okay," Charlie said, padding the air with his hands. "I got it, okay? I'll see you guys later today."

"Night, Charlie," Abby said.

Charlie waved to them all as he walked out, getting into the car and driving away.

In the cell of Forks Police Station, Adam Donnelley sat on the cot, his back against the wall, thinking about Police Chief Swan. They were the same age, same kind of looks. Had had the same career. For Adam, it was like looking at the version of himself he would have been if it had all gone right. There was a truck in the driveway next to the police cruiser and photos of a pale, dark-haired girl (she reminded Adam a bit of Dracula's bride) in the living room – the door had been opened and Adam had been unable to not look inside.

So, Chief had a wife and a kid. Maybe an ex-wife and a kid since there was only two cars in the driveway when the daughter was old enough to drive, and Chief Swan hadn't been wearing a wedding ring. Job in a position of authority and responsibility. A little house in a little town.

Everything Adam had wanted for himself, and everything he had turned his back on after he found out the truth about what he and Carl had been doing. There had been a girl that he had been with for two years before he found out his part in the Bailey women's ordeal.

She was Irish, she was Catholic; his family thought she was the right girl for him.

She was redhead, she was curvaceous, she had been as crazy in love with him as he had been with her; he _knew _she was the right girl for him.

He had broken up with her the next day. She had expected a proposal, he had brought a sudden ending.

He had clutched her engagement ring in his pocket the whole time. She had cried, he had said nothing. Eventually she left. He cried for her, for himself, for the life they could have had. He downed the better part of a bottle of whiskey and gone to sleep, dreaming of the half a dozen children they had planned to have.

His family hadn't understood it, why he had ended it. They kept telling him that Myra was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

He knew that. Just like he knew he wasn't the best thing that had ever happened to her; making a life with him would have put her under Carl's control. He couldn't do that.

_Because _that's _how you protect the people you love, Carl, _Adam thought, leaning his head back against the wall, tears burning his eyes. _When you're what's hurting them, you leave. You get the fuck away from them and hope they build a life without you, even though the thought makes you feel like your soul is burning inside you._

Myra had probably made a life without him. It had been six years. She could have gotten married and had a bunch of kids by now with some faceless, unknown man. Adam had never met the man he imagined was with his love, but he hated him all the same.

He hadn't really spoken to his family since then either. They thought that he had broken up with Myra because of some bad reaction to his godfather's death. But time had passed and he still hadn't tried to repair his relationship with Myra. He became distant, drinking heavily, travelling a lot. He lost his apartment because he forgot to pay the rent but rather than finding another place for moving in for a while with one of his six siblings, Adam had packed up some clothes on the back of his motorbike and taken off.

His business crumpled. He didn't care.

The less he was with his family, the safer they were. They didn't even know he had cancer. Hell, they didn't even know he was still (clinically) alive at all. His mom had called him a year ago to tell him his youngest sister, Mariah, was getting married. He hadn't gone to the wedding. Hadn't gone to the christenings of the five nieces and nephews that had been born in the last four years. Hadn't gone to his father's funeral.

Just fallen off the grid. But he planned to change that, sort of. The only thing he had now, apart from the clothes and the bike, was a notebook and a pen. Inside those pages was the whole story, everything that had happened since the night was watched the news and found the Baileys on it. He had started it when he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. By the time he died, it would be finished, posted to his family. Then maybe they could put the past behind him, knowing that none of it had been their fault.

The Chief had been kind enough to let him keep the notebook and pen in his cell with him, and left the lamp on the desk next to the cells on. Swan was a decent guy to let him. Most would have taken the pen and notebook away from him – there were a few ways to commit suicide with a ballpoint pen – just to be petty and lately it had felt like writing was the only thing that kept him sane anymore.

Uncapping the pen, Adam started to write...

* * *

_Okay, a little different and I honestly don't know where I'm going with this character Adam Donnelley or if we'll ever see him again but the story is being a little fast and loose right now. So, please review, you'll either get this character or won't but review either way. _

_This is my last update for a week because I'm visiting my gran and she doesn't have internet access (don't blame her, at ninety she doesn't think she needs it!) so please review but don't expect an update until next Monday at the earliest!_


	21. Chapter 20

_Hi, guys! I'm back, and I'm updating. I wouldn't advocate leaving your inbox for seven days – fifty-four emails (not including the junk messages) take time to get through. _

_Thank you all for your reviews, favourites and story alerts! I may give you more time to review next time as well – I like getting them!_

Chapter Twenty

"Kim? It's Dr. Gerandy."

Kim gripped the phone, and beckoned Abby over, mouthing, _it's the doctor! _Abby dropped the teddy she was waving in front of Jimmy into the play pen and rushed over. Kim held the phone so they could both hear him.

"Yes, Dr. Gerandy, I'm here," said Kim.

"And Abby?"

"Here, Doctor."

"Good. Well, I'm pleased to tell you the surgery went excellently," the Doctor said. They could hear the smile in his voice. "In a couple of days we'll do the scan but I'm pretty sure we got it all out."

"And that's it?" Kim asked.

"The test results came back negative for having spread," Dr. Gerandy said. "We caught it in time."

"Oh thank god," Abby said, crossing herself.

_You're Catholic? _Kim mouthed.

Abby shrugged. _Can't hurt._

Kim almost laughed out loud but Dr. Gerandy was speaking.

"Your mother will be getting released from hospital in a week," Dr. Gerandy said. "We'll wait for the results of the scan to see if your mother requires any further treatment."

"Okay. I was reading...on the internet," Kim said, a little sheepish, "that surgery for cancer is usually followed by chemotherapy or radiation to make sure the tumour doesn't come back. Is that...will that be necessary here?"

"It probably will," Dr. Gerandy said, "strictly as a precaution. But I can't tell you how long until we do the scan and we can ascertain the results of the surgery."

"Is that why you didn't tell us about the chemotherapy before?" Kim said, a slight bite to her voice.

"Yes, Kim," Dr. Gerandy sounded a little contrite, which helped. "Had you been an adult, I would have laid it all out, but Kim, you are the daughter of a patient. I decided that it would be best to tell you what you had to deal with at the time. I'm sorry if you feel that this has been sprung on you, but I did what I thought was best."

"Thank you, doctor," Kim said. "For everything. Can we see our mom tomorrow?"

"Absolutely," Dr. Gerandy said. "She'll have a room to herself – CCU doesn't get many patients in a small place like this – so I'll arrange for you to stay as long as you like."

"Even overnight?" Kim asked eagerly.

"If your mother will let you," Dr. Gerandy said, "and you don't tire her out, then I don't see a problem."

"Woohoo!" Kim threw up the phone, hugged Abby, and forgot to catch the phone, which, in typical Karma-like fashion, cracked her on the head when gravity took hold of it. "Ow! Buggeration!" Kim clutched her head while Abby swooped down to grab the phone.

"Kim? Kim, are you alright?" Dr. Gerandy sounded worried.

"She's fine, doc," Abby said. "Just showing solidarity with her mom by smacking herself on the head with her phone."

"Oh, well, tell her that needing stitches won't get her to see her mom today, so don't try," the doctor said, amusement in his voice.

"Will do, doc! HEY KIM! DOC SAYS EVEN IF YOU NEED STITCHES, YOU STILL CAN't SEE LEANNE!"

Kim, who had staggered into the living room swearing a blue streak, making Jimmy giggle, yelled back, "I DIDN'T DO IT ON PURPOSE! BUGGER MY HEAD!"

"EW, NO THANKS!" Abby cackled.

"AH, SHOVE OFF!"

"Tsk, tsk, that language." Abby realised she and Kim had been yelling down the phone. "Oops, sorry, Dr. Gerandy. Thanks for everything."

"No problem," said Dr. Gerandy, rubbing his ear where two screaming teenagers almost made his ears bleed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow! Bye!" Hanging up, Abby waited until she heard the dial tone, then speed-dialled a number. "Paul! Paul, tell everybody! Leanne's okay – the surgery went well! We're seeing her tomorrow!"

"Aw, fuck, Abs, that's great! Ow, Mom!" Paul winced when his mother slapped him upside the head with a rolled up newspaper. "I'll tell Sam who'll make the rounds."

"Excellent. God, I feel like a party!" Abby said, smiling brightly.

There was a scuffle on the phone then, "Abby, Abby it's Celeste."

"Oh, hi, Celeste," Abby said, nervously smoothing her clothes as though Paul's mother was in front of her not on the phone. "What's up?"

"Well, you said you felt like celebrating so I was wondering if you all wanted to come over, just for a little get together," Celeste said. "I'll get everyone organised. You three come over about six o'clock."

"Are you sure?" asked Abby. "It's an awful lot of bother, especially at short notice."

"For you, it's nothing," Celeste said. "Paul's been a whole lot happier since you and him became...whatever you are."

"Mom!" Abby heard Paul whine from the background and snorted with laughter.

"Oh, shush, did you really think I didn't know? You lock your bedroom door a lot more recently."

"MOM!"

"Shhh! Yes, six o'clock, bring a bottle or something to eat and I'll see you later."

"Thanks, Celeste, we'll see you later."

"Okay, love. Here you go, Paul. Sweetheart, don't pout."

Abby was giggling away by the time a grumbling Paul got the phone back.

"Shut up, Abs, she didn't mean it," Paul said.

"Oh, so you don't...lock your bedroom door for me, then?"

Paul blushed. "No," he mumbled.

"That's a shame," Abby laughed.

"It is?" Paul's hopes rose.

"Yeah, I'm running out of things to tease you about," Abby said, oblivious.

"Oh, right," Paul's hope plummeted and his smile faded but he rallied for her. "I'll be sure to leave the baby album out for you then."

"Oh, I'd love that," Abby said.

"Uh huh. Right, babes, I got to go – Mom's flapping at me to go to the supermarket for tonight."

"Okay," Abby said. "Don't go overboard, though, will you?"

"I'll do what I'm told," Paul hedged. "I'll see you tonight."

"Later, honey," Abby trilled. She hung up and went to tell Kim about the plans for tonight.

"Are they sure?" Kim asked, balancing Jimmy, who was chewing his teddy's paw, on her hip. "It sounds like a lot of effort."

"They want to do it," Abby shrugged.

"And you want to see Paul again," said Kim, smiling at her.

"Yeah," Abby said, tickling Jimmy's cheek, making the boy squirm and giggle. "I miss him when I don't see him."

"Hmmm," said Kim, looking at Abby.

"What?" Abby said, putting a hand on her jutted out hip.

"Nothing, nothing," Kim said lightly.

"That's not nothing, that's the tone of something," Abby said, narrowing her eyes. "There's nothing going on between me and Paul."

"I didn't say there was," Kim said innocently, carrying Jimmy to the kitchen because he was fussing for crackers. Upon getting his hands on them, Jimmy put three in his mouth and began sucking them. Kim rolled her eyes fondly and plucked two out of his mouth, leaving him to cram the third in his mouth whole lest it too be taken away from him.

"Silly poppet," Abby said, patting him on the back gently when he began to choke on cracker crumbs.

"Good Lord, child," Kim said theatrically, getting him a beaker of water, "what are you doing to yourself?"

Jimmy sucked down the water, coughed one last time, spraying Kim with soggy regurgitated crumbs, and then settled back to eat his next cracker, the episode quite forgotten for him.

Kim, however, was not so quick to recover. Wrinkling her face with the resignation of a sibling that had been covered in other, worse, things, Kim handed Jimmy to Abby, who was busy laughing at her, and grabbed a cloth to wipe off her face. "Right, well, thanks for that, sunshine," Kim said to her brother. She dumped the cloth into the sink and took Jimmy back.

Abby sighed happily, the sound punctuated with a chuckle, and put on the oven to make her grandmother's mint chocolate cake. Kim sat at the table with Jimmy on her lap to watch her. Abby moved with confidence and grace around her kitchen, and Kim saw how different she was to the girl Kim had met months ago in September.

"What?" Abby asked, whisking the cake mixture with the bowl resting in the crook of her elbow.

"Nothing," Kim said, brushing the hair back from Jimmy face – he preened at the attention. "You're just different to how you used to be."

"Is that bad?" Abby said, the insecurity coming back.

"No," Kim said. "It's good – you're happy now."

Abby leant back against the kitchen counter, whisking slower now that her attention had shifted to the conversation at hand. "I guess I am. I mean, yeah, my dad's still not home, but compared to when we met, I am doing better. My dad's getting help, I have a family, in bond if not in blood. I have friends in you and Paul. And I've suddenly found myself in the middle of this huge group of people that look out for each other, like a family within the tribe or something. It's nice. I guess I was loner in necessity, not in nature."

"You're definitely a people person," Kim said, helping Jimmy to stand on her legs. "You have a gift, taking messed up people and making them better."

Abby laughed, "Are you on something? You're exaggerating!"

Kim shook her head, rubbing noses with Jimmy. "No, I'm not. You did it with my whole family. You did it with Paul. You're just...a joy-bringer."

Abby laugher again, harder this time, "Joy-bringer?"

"It's what my mum calls them!" Kim explained. "A special breed of angels she said."

"Aw, now I'm an angel, good day for my ego," Abby said, pouring melting chocolate into the cake mixing and stirring thoroughly.

"Yeah, yeah," Kim said, Jimmy trying to use her for a climbing frame. "Whatever; I've heard what Paul calls you."

"Paul calls me a lot of things," said Abby, pouring the cake mix into a greased cake tin.

"Yep. Angel. Love. Ducky. You're going to have to explain that last one to me," Kim said with a smile.

"When he came around while you and Jared weren't talking, he asked me how I was doing and I said I was just ducky. Since then when I'm tired, or out of sorts or something, he calls me ducky and it always makes me smile."

"Paul making someone smile," Kim said, raising an eyebrow, "imagine that."

"Oi, you," Abby said, whipping at her legs with a tea-towel, "he's lovely!"

"Oooh ooh," Kim said, "remind me not insult Paul in front of you."

"You been insulting me, Kim?" came a deep voice.

Paul was leaning against the doorjamb of the open back door, smirking at them.

"Paul!" Abby said, kicking the oven door closed on the cake and running to hug him.

Paul's face lit up as she came over and swooped her up into a bear hug. He kissed her cheek as her feet came off the floor.

"Not insulting per se," Kim said, smiling at the pair of them, making a face at Jimmy who laughed.

"Hi Pol!" he cried.

"Pol? Really?" Paul asked Kim.

She shrugged. "He's got the wrong vowel sound, that's all; he'll grow out of it."

Paul put Abby back on the floor. "Doesn't matter to me," he said, coming in to sit at the table, ruffling Jimmy's crow-black hair as he sat. Jimmy grinned, leaning into the huge, warm hand.

"Ack!" he cried, losing his balance and falling hard against Kim's arm. Paul instinctively jumped to make sure Jimmy didn't fall.

"Whoa, Jimmy! It's okay, we got you!" Kim said, settling him back into her lap. She stroked his hair soothingly until Jimmy nestled back into her. "There we go, baba," she murmured. "Time for a nap, I think," she said to Paul and Abby. "I'll be back in a moment." She got up and walked out of the kitchen, rubbing Jimmy's back to keep him pacified.

"You guys alright?" Paul asked, putting his hands on Abby's hips and bringing her to stand between his legs.

"Yeah," Abby said, putting her hands on he's shoulders. "We're okay."

"Really, because this morning you were told Kim's father was getting to La Push in a few hours," Paul said. He kissed the inch of skin exposed from where Abby's top had ridden up above the waistband of her jeans.

"Which is why your mom's invited everyone around all of a sudden," Abby said with a knowing smile.

"I might have told her everything," Paul said. "But it keeps Kim and Jimmy surrounded by Protectors like Charlie wanted."

Abby stroked his cheek, leaving her hand cupping his jaw. "It does indeed. Have I told you how grateful I am?"

Paul kissed the centre of her palm – he couldn't stop touching her any way he could right now, though he knew he was beyond pushing the boundaries of friends. "You can tell right now if you like."

Abby smiled softly and dropped a kiss on his mouth. "I'm so grateful that you're here."

There was a squeak on the linoleum. Kim had walked in, seen the kiss and tried to beat a hasty exit. Unfortunately, hasty didn't mean quiet.

"Kim," Abby said, standing up straight again.

Kim turned, "oh, hi!" she said, brightly. "I was just...getting a drink, and then going to watch some TV. In the lounge."

"Kim, what's with you?" Abby said. "You're acting weird."

"I am? Well, yeah, I am...but I just meant...I've lost my touch at subtle, haven't I?"

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but yeah," said Paul. He wrapped her arms around Abby's waist, resting his cheek on her stomach.

"Sorry, I just didn't want to interrupt. But, uh, now you mention it, can I talk to you for a moment, Paul?" Kim asked.

"Uh, sure," Paul said. He stood up and dropped a kiss on Abby's cheek as he moved her back to leave the kitchen.

"I'll just...put the kettle on then," Abby said, bemused as she watched them go.

Kim let him upstairs to the end of the hall, away from the kitchen. "Okay, fess up – what the hell is going on with you two? Are you together or aren't you?" she hissed.

"She doesn't know," Paul said, "As far as she knows, we're friends."

"No, as far as she knows, she cares more about you than anyone else in the world but doesn't know why," Kim said agitated. "And she wants to know what's going on."

"And she said that to you," Paul said, folding her arms.

"Yes. Well, sort of. She wants me to tell her if there is anything that affects you, since she knows that she doesn't know the whole story."

Paul sighed, running his hand over his fuzzy scalp. "I'd hoped she hadn't noticed."

"How stupid do you think she is?" Kim demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't think she's stupid," Paul said defensively on behalf of himself and Abby.

"Well, stop treating her like she is then," Kim said, "or blind."

"Back off! I'm doing what I think is best," Paul said loudly. "Just because Jared told you everything doesn't mean _I'm _going to put this all on Abby."

"Excuse me?" Kim said, her eyes flashing dangerously. "So, you think you've got all the answers, huh? Funny, since you're the _only _one that hasn't told your imprint what has happened. What are you scared of?"

Paul's eyes narrowed. "I'm not scared of anything. Abby's not you and she's not Emily. She's got a mother whose just run off, a father in rehab. She needs a friend, not someone who'll run out on her!"

"She knows you won't run out on her!" Kim yelled.

"She knows that everyone who has loved her has left her!" Paul yelled back. "Her grandparents, her parents! I won't be like them!"

"You'll be the people waking up a napping toddler," Abby said from the top of the stairs. Paul and Kim snapped around to see her, _oh shit _expressions on both of their faces. "Jimmy was crying over the baby monitor," she explained, holding the white unit up, "but neither of you were with him. Now I know why."

"Abby, I-"

Abby held up her hand and Paul stopped dead. "I'm going for a walk," she said. She put the baby monitor on the top banister and turned her back on them. She hadn't even taken a step before Paul started going after her. Kim leant on the door behind her and rubbed her hands over her face, leaving them resting there for a moment. The monitor squawked. "I'm coming, Jim-bug," she said tiredly to herself.

Jimmy was wide awake and not happy.

"Alright, kid, let's get you changed." At two, Jimmy was toilet-trained but like most children, he still had accidents, especially when he was sleeping. She cleaned him up and got in out of his pyjamas and into some new day clothes. With Jimmy in one arm and the wet clothes in the other, Kim made her way carefully down the stairs. She put a wash on, put Jimmy in the play pen in the corner and took the cakes out of the oven when the timer dinged.

She was sat tapping her fingernail against the cup, resting her head on her other hand, when Abby and Paul came in. They weren't talking to each other but they didn't have an overly-hostile air about them. Paul sat at the kitchen table, sighing under his breath when Abby took the seat opposite him instead of next to him.

Kim didn't know what to say. "I'll make a fresh pot of tea."

"Don't bother, Kim, I'm just leaving," Paul said. He got up and left saying, "I'll see you guys tonight. Jared's picking you up."

"Bye," Kim said weakly.

The door closed and Abby put her head in her hands.

"So, what happened?" Kim asked, "After I opened Pandora's box by hitting Paul on the head with it."

"We talked," Abby said. "When he caught up with me. I get why you freaked out on Jared," she gave Kim a weak smile. "Shape shifter was so not even on my list of things I thought was going on with them."

"Tell me about it," Kim nodded. She put the cup of tea down in front of Abby. "You handled it better than I did. At least you weren't a complete bitch to him, breaking his heart for weeks on end before you couldn't pretend you didn't need him anymore."

"I think with your background you get a free pass," said Abby.

"And with your background and your reaction to this, you're a better person than I am. But I think I always knew that." Kim put her chin in her hand.

Abby let out a breath slowly. "Tonight isn't going to be as much fun as I thought it might have been. Me and Paul are on shakier ground than we were two hours ago. I keep wanting to talk to Paul, to feel better, and then I remember that Paul is the one that lied to me."

"He didn't lie to you," Kim said, "He...omitted to tell you...certain things, difficult things."

"That's not what you were saying when it was you and Jared," Abby said sharply.

"I know," Kim said. "But like Paul said, you and him aren't me and Jared. He did what he thought was right. You have so much going on right now, Abby, he didn't want to add to it."

"That's what he said," Abby said tiredly. "He said what I overheard was right. That he didn't want to be another person to love me and leave me. I never thought he would be. I thought, hoped, really that he did love me. He never said it, but I wanted him to."

"Do you love him?" Kim asked.

Abby took a sip of tea, looking drained. "The answer isn't as simple as I'd like it to be."

"I'm all ears – easy is not something I know. I think that if things were easier I'd be waiting for the other shoe to drop," Kim said.

Abby leaned back in her seat. "I think that Paul was right after all. Knowing he was my friend was easy. But knowing that he feels this way, that there's some mystical force that chose me out of everyone on the planet to be with him...well, it just makes me feel sorry for him to he honest."

Kim laughed. "Been there."

"Before I was his friend," said Abby, "And now I'm this fated mate or whatever. He told me about what they hunt and I started to think that I can't patch up my werewolf lover after he's gotten into a fight with a vampire! Then I realised what I was saying and burst out laughing from the sheer ridiculousness of it!" Abby laid her head on the table.

"Do you care more about how stupid it is than about him?" Kim asked.

"No," Abby said.

"Think that every day until it doesn't feel weird anymore," Kim said, patting her hand. "It helps."

"I can deal with the werewolves," Abby said, "I can deal with the vampires. I can even deal with the fact that I'm The One for one of these werewolves. But, as petty as it seems, I can't deal with the fact that this changes the relationship between me and Paul. You know when you spin around really, really fast and everything else is a blur but there's that one spot that you focused on and it kept you from falling over?"

"Yeah?"

"Paul was that point for me," Abby said. "And now he's spinning faster than everything else."

"The Beatles were high when they sang all you need is love," Kim said. "Otherwise the song would have been called 'All You Want Is Love but It'll Lead to You Needed a Large Mallet and a Bottle of Whiskey'."

Abby gave a tired laugh. "I think all this is coming from the fact that I don't know where we are anymore."

"But you said you hoped he loved you," Kim reminded her.

"And I did. But he didn't tell me all this himself," Abby said.

"He was trying to protect you," said Kim gently.

"I know that, too," Abby said. "And that's what worries me – he was so busy protecting me from the bad aspects of his life that he went without the best parts. What makes me different to you and Emily? Do you think he supposes I'm weaker than you?"

"No!" Kim exclaimed. "He doesn't think anything of the sort, honey. But your family _is _going through a big upheaval right now. He just wanted to be there for you rather than have you have to be there for him."

Abby managed a small smile. "He really is a surprise. If he doesn't want to know, nothing will make him talk to you. But if he cares...he'd walk through hellfire if you needed him to. And I don't want him to do that for me; I just want him to be okay."

Kim took her hand in both of her and kissed it before holding it on the table. "I know this is scary, Abby. You've just found out that all the nightmares you've ever had are real, and the person you love in on the front line fighting against them. It's okay to not feel alright about this."

Abby nodded, her long hair falling to create a curtain between them. Not wanting Abby to hide from her, Kim tucked the hair behind Abby's ear, and her hand under her chin and pushed gently until Abby looked at her. The same tears that had fallen from Kim's eyes when she had finally comprehended what this all meant were making Abby's eyes glitter.

"He can't die, Kim," Abby said, her voice trembling, "I wouldn't survive if he died."

"I know, honey," said Kim. She pulled Abby close and hugged her. Abby hugged her back, needing to hold onto something.

When Abby had gotten a better hold on herself, becoming once more her less annalistic self, Kim took Jimmy into the living room for a story, leaving Abby to ice the cakes.

But her mind was only half on the story about a good dog that wiped his muddy paws and a bad dog that put his paws on the furniture. Instead she was thinking about how things would be this summer. Easier, she hoped. Abby's dad would be home, and hopefully six months sober; Leanne would be healed from her surgery and tumour-less. And, if Fortune had decided that Kim and Abby's families had had enough bad luck for their lifetimes, Carl would be gone (permanently?) and Abby's mother would have made some sort of decision as to what she was going to do with the rest of her life and would be sticking to it.

_Let's dream,_ Kim thought, turning her attention solely to the book and making Jimmy laugh with all the different voices.


	22. Author's note 2

Author's note

Hi to everyone still reading this fiction, I appreciate it. However, as you may have notice, there has been a distinct lack of updating. I'm taking a break from for a little while. I don't know how long. I have a lot of family stuff going on right now and every time it feels like I've got a handle on one thing something else goes to hell. I can't get my head around other people's universes at the moment. I will continue to write, but it won't be the Twilight fan fictions I have on the go right now.  
Anyway, I thought I should write it down instead of letting it drag on and lose some people because you've all been really great to read and review and favourite as you have done.

I'll be back when I'm back, I guess.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. If you don't celebrate Christmas then happy December!

Thank you everyone,  
Chainofcommand


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